Earning the Right to Educate

Nine states. More than 50 hours of training farmers and ag organizations on social media. 2 tornado warnings during 15+ hours of driving, topped by 5 severe thunderstorms. Gratitude for the way others in ag welcomed new folks. 15+ flights; 1 diverted, many delayed and two cancelled. Tired vocal cords. And outstanding conversations with close to 200 farmers.  That was my June.

We had great discussions about the necessity of farmers speaking out in a more proactive way. Most people I’ve worked with in the last month agreed agriculture has developed a tendency to be defensive. After all, if you’re backed into a corner, you’re likely to come out fighting, right?   Local food, biotechnology, organic, animal welfare, subsidies, carbon footprint, fuel, etc. are all hot issues that have seemingly put our backs up against a wall.

Rather than looking at this as being put in the corner and constantly defending ourselves, I believe the interest in food and fuel offers an incredible opportunity for agriculture to be a part of the conversation.

1. Listen: How will you connect with a person if you don’t take the time to listen? Groups on Linkedin or Twitter conversations are a great place to listen to folks, even if you don’t agree with them. Listen louder and you’ll get a clear look at societal interests and trends far removed from your driveway. It’s about broadening your horizons, understanding another viewpoint and learning about others. This does not mean you have to agree!

2. Engage: Unlike some folks I met in Missouri that enjoyed collecting friends on Facebook (but not talking to them), you actually have to engage in a real conversation with people – whether you are in person or online.  Look up the definition of conversation: an oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas.  As you engage with people, you widen the stream of communications, bringing in others and deepening the “trust well.” It’s about connecting on an emotional level.

3. Educate: After you listen and engage, you earn the right to educate. I had a person in Iowa tell me this week that he didn’t want to waste his time on the first two – he just wanted to be able to tell people the facts. That may work in his playbook, but it doesn’t in the majority of communities.  There’s a reason that 460 million people are on Facebook; humans enjoy interfacing with humans. A glimpse into life on the farm with a photo from your phone, perspective from a farm family or a tidbit on how food gets to the grocery store can provide that very human connection. Telling people what you want them to know doesn’t connect at the same level if you don’t have a relationship.

Sometimes we need to realize a question is just a question.  The question doesn’t mean that a consumer is dumb, your neighbor is against your farm, or a mom is questioning how you raise food. The question means the person is opening the doorway for a conversation. Will you slam that door shut by being defensive? Or, will you take the time to listen and engage?

We’ll never be able to earn the right to educate if we only defend. Take the time today to listen and engage – then you’ll be able to educate far more effectively to help people know how deeply you care.

 

Women of Agriculture Week

My week started on with giving a workshop on social media a women’s leadership program in North Carolina and ended with a keynote to encourage ladies to celebrate agriculture in central Kansas. Hanging out with other women rarely happens in my work as a professional agricultural speaker, so I enjoyed some girl time.  A common denominator was shoes (of course!); in North Carolina we joked about one woman with 40 shoes in her car and in Kansas, we switched shoes (literally).

 

Changing the Earth with Every Bite

“You can change the world with every bite.” is the closing line of Food, Inc. Rather than getting into the debate around this sensationalized “opiniontary” – I’ll just suffice it to say that it doesn’t fairly represent an incredibly complex agriculture system. However, the last line (set to “This Land is Your Land” music and lovely graphics that clearly show the money poured into the film) caught my attention.  I’m sure it resonated with many viewers who are wondering about WHO is behind their food.

 

Locking Elbows

When I was about six, I was charged with sweeping our calf barn and then tasked with other chores as I grew. I quickly learned that leveraging my strengths, creatively utilizing all the tools and working together would result in the most work getting done.  Our cows gave me all sorts of lessons in leveraging my fairly small frame against 2000 pounds, though they didn’t always necessarily appreciate my creative use of tools. In the fields, I discovered more stones would get picked in our fields when there was more than just my two hands.

 

Celebrating the AgChat Community

One year ago I was contemplating the idea of agriculture folks joining  a conversation on Twitter, similar to what I had seen in action on “#journchat.” I discussed the idea with some friends in the business, tried to evaluate how such a conversation could connect people around the food plate and wondered if it really was something ag people would “do.”  ‘No risk, no reward’ is a personal philosophy, so on April 6, 2009, I announced we were going to try out a moderated streaming conversation known as “#AgChat” on Twitter on April 7, 2009.

 

Agvocates: People Just Like You

“Agvocacy” is the heart and soul of National Agriculture Week. A farmer in Ohio, Mike Haley, coined the “agvocate” term on Twitter a few months ago. It brings together ‘agriculture’ and ‘advocate’ into a singular term that’s representative of the action needed. Agvocates from across the country shared their stores at the Cause Matters Corp. National Ag Week party – you’ll see they’re people just like you.

 

Milk Pongs, Family Farms & Politicians

Telling your story can happen through words, pictures, videos or text!

The National Agriculture Week celebration continues with great events across communities, large and small, in real life and the virtual world. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Linkedin have been filled with updates from people working to increase awareness of  American agriculture. The idea extravaganza at the Cause Matters Corp. fan page has brought people from across the country to the party; these are a few of my favorites s far  (we’re partying til Saturday at midnight).

 

National Ag Week Idea Extravaganza

There’s a collective sigh of relief in my office! It appears a party can be thrown on Facebook – and be a cool way of connecting people. I don’t know about you, but I’m always a little worried before a party. The same worries held true before I announced the National Agriculture Week Party on the Cause Matters Corp. Facebook fan page. What if no one showed up…or it was boring…or we ran out of ideas or…(yes, I worry too much). Well,  I’m pleased to report the party seems to hopping.  Check out just a few of the great ideas shared by people across the country…

 

A Note to HSUS: Genuinely Grassroots

UPDATE: ABC News reports HSUS donations will stop. Yellow Tail in pledge to Animal Ag Alliance (http://bit.ly/9dZrVS) said “Being farmers ourselves we support those who care for their land and their environment, just as we do. We are proud of our rural heritage and value a solid relationship with agricultural communities around the world…”

Dear Mr. Pacelle,

Your recent “urgent request for help” caught my attention. First I passed it off as another attempt to line your deep coffers with the goal of “raising $200,000 as a ‘counterpunch’ to one of our more persistent critics.”  Then I rolled my eyes at hypocrisy of your description of Richard Berman and David Martosko as “shadowy flim-flam artists” and  “an unprincipled group that gleefully stands in the way of all efforts to help animals so long as someone pays them to do it.” Given the fact that the Humane Society of the United States runs campaigns that Mike Rowe’s website has pointed to as “unethical” and law students held up as a bad example of fundraising, your name-calling seemed a bit extreme.

 

Food Choices

Conversations to connect the farm gate & consumer plate

The advent of social media has brought the diversity of food opinions to clear light. I listen and participate in hundreds of conversations daily with people around the world. It’s beneficial to converse about food, its’ origins, the people who produce it and how the agrifood system works. It’s also immensely frustrating to see how polarizing food and farming have become.