This week I had an opportunity to write for the KOMU‘s Tech Talk Blog. The blog talks about advances in new technology. It is meant to be a source for the station’s viewers to learn about new technology available and how to use it. Due to a rise in the use of agricultural social media use and the fact that it was National Ag Day this week, I wrote about farmers.
Agriculture Online
By Carah Hart
If you have ever had a question about your food or how its produced, you know it can be Googled. But now, questions and comments can be tweeted or posted directly to a farmer with a timely response. This is due to the rapid growth in agriculture’s social media presence within the last five years.
Farmers are using more social media to reach out to off-the-farm folks. Mostly to talk about issues in the agriculture industry, their farming practices and to answer your food production questions.
Being online is by far an easier task to do now than it was five years ago, because of new technology such as smart phones and smart pads. Farmers can carry these around and communicate as they work.
When writing this post, I was curious about statistics of how many farmers use social media. I did some research and found out that there haven’t been many studies to measure the exact number of social media users across the U.S.
However, agricultural publications like Farm Journal surveyed their online readers to find out.
About 69 percent of their readers use social media (Facebook and Twitter). With a majority of them spending at least one hour online each week.
A study released by the American Farm Bureau Federation says almost all of younger farmers (between 18 – 35) had Internet access, with more than 75 percent of them using Facebook.
The study also says more than 70 percent of the 500 farmers surveyed are trying to talk to the public about farming practices and food production.
Carah Hart 