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Farmers/Ranchers need to speak out … “Agvocacy”
Perry Brewer, Area Extension Agent - Golden Plains Area
Date:
11/3/2011
Questions? Contact
Me
“Agvocacy” refers to agricultural advocacy, or the
practice of farmers and ranchers proactively communicating with consumers and
the media to promote the importance of agriculture and to counter the spread of
false information.
Agvocacy can take various forms, such as engaging in
one-on-one conversations or speaking to groups, promoting agriculture through
the media, and using online and social media tools such as blogs, Twitter and
Facebook to share stories and to make connections with consumers.
But
while the Agvocacy movement is growing in the United States and Australia
(among other nations), most farmers and agriculture industry participants
remain silent in the face of mounting public campaigns against their
industry.
And while negative attacks on farming go unchallenged, animal
rights and environmental groups and their wide networks of active supporters
continue to campaign collectively to influence community perceptions against
animal agriculture.
They understand which buttons to push to attract
media and public attention to their cause, and they routinely succeed in
portraying isolated examples of bad practice as representative of entire
industries.
Most surveys show that the public still holds farmers in
high esteem, but the danger is that as anti-farming campaigns intensify, that
can change. Confronted with emotively-charged, negative statements about
agriculture, consumers, with little to no first-hand experience of farming or
direct connection with farmers against which to check the validity of
anti-farming claims, may be increasingly inclined to believe
them.
Ranchers and farmers need to put themselves in the shoes of urban
residents and to seek to understand the hardships these urbanites face when
communicating with them.
From a journalist’s perspective, the media
wants to hear from farmers, because personal accounts always made the most
engaging stories.
The level of public scrutiny facing farmers was not
going to go away, particularly with the ubiquitous presence of mobile phones
equipped with video and cameras, which has increased the onus on farmers and
ranchers to ensure that everything they do is
“squeaky-clean”.
Keep your message simple when advocating for
Agriculture. Here are some points to consider:
• Producing food and
fiber is a vital occupation - Have pride in what you do and the confidence to
talk about it;
• The best person to tell your story is you;
•
Urban audiences view farmers as trustworthy and are interested in what happens
on farms and how food is produced;
• Personal accounts always make the
most interesting and engaging stories;
• Agvocacy can take many forms,
for example: engaging in face-to-face, one-on-one conversations with consumers
about farming; distributing information resources to school or community
groups; public speaking; inviting consumers to tour farms; sharing stories,
pictures and videos of daily farming life on online blogs and social media
networks; connecting online with consumers; correcting misinformation where it
appears via letters to the editor, comments on media websites or social media;
farmers making themselves available to talk to the media about
farming.
• Good advocacy is about good listening;
• Don’t
leave it to farming groups to respond – individual farmers are far
less-confined than process-driven farming organizations to respond quickly to
examples of misinformation where it appears. Nor can representative groups
respond to the many comments that are made about agriculture every day –
but networks of individual agvocates can.
Why should you take the time
to engage in social media? It’s pretty simple; sites such as Facebook,
Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube give you the opportunity to reach millions. These
are tools that aren’t just for teenagers or techies; social media has
become the mainstream – and agriculture stands to be left behind if we
don’t find our voice online.
We have an opportunity to directly
connect with people who have questions about where, how and why we farm and
ranch the way we do. Consider these opportunities for influence:
•
Facebook has over 200 million users, adding 5 million weekly. If it were a
country, would be larger than Brazil. And, more to the point, anti-ag activist
groups are growing their presence. PETA has added more than 50,000 fans on
their FB page in two months.
• HSUS used Twitter to report live from
its award banquet. Twitter is about proliferation of information – and
misinformation.
• YouTube has more than 13 hours of video uploaded
every minute of every day. Think about the anti-agriculture videos that have
seared images in viewer’s minds over the last year. In the last month
alone, there’s been a 30% increase in videos on environmentalism and
animal rights.
Is Agvocacy something to think about? I believe the
answer is yes!
To get started, consider joining a conversation on
Facebook or Twitter. AgChat (AgChat.Org) is a
good place to start.