~ guest post by Ryan Weeks

Why did I get involved with social media?  Was it a dream of mine to get banned from the HSUS twitter account since I was a little kid?  Nope, I found the misinformation being spread about farming and ranching on sites such as YouTube as a problem that needed to have a counter argument.  Of course, I first signed on to Facebook to connect with friends, but it quickly moved to agvocacy when I saw non-factual information being taken as fact regarding our production methods in agriculture, and specifically, agriculture was being blamed for a lot of problems (diabetes, obesity, etc) in our society that I felt are about consumption, not production.

Ryan L. Weeks is a fifth generation farmer from Juniata, Nebraska. Their operation prides itself on quick adaptation of technology, being stewards of the land they farm and being involved in the community in which they live.

I had seen for quite a while what you would get when you searched “factory farming” on YouTube, and saw the smokestacks in the background of a cornfield in the movie “Food Inc.”.  This really hit me as I have a passion for what we do in agriculture.  I have seen third world countries in person where food choice is not an option.  You eat what you have, if you have anything.  So, to label our food production system as broken when we are feeding our own, exporting, and raising more product on less inputs, I felt like I should start speaking up.  I have always done the local speaking about economic impacts of ag, and specifically animal ag, but the conversation nationally has nothing to do with economics.  It has everything to do with emotion.  Science, no matter how factual, has a hard time trumping emotion.  The heartfelt feelings always win.  I felt there needed to be a voice of the producer themselves in conversations about agriculture.

My social media journey started with Facebook, graduated to Twitter, created a Facebook Farm Page, and now have started using Linked-In (use sporadically), Buzz (able to use more than 140 characters) and YouTube.  It seems like quite a lot, but with apps like TweetDeck, it becomes manageable. It has afforded me the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the AgChat Foundation conference (a phenomenal grassroots organization) and be around a tremendous group of family farmers to improve our skills in social media.  But best thing that’s happened in this journey is a chance to converse with consumers about the advantages and disadvantages of certain aspects of our food system in an environment that usually contains mutual respect.  There are antagonists, and misunderstandings, but the beauty of most social media products is that you have the ability to hit block, ignore, or have a community of aggies support you. We all are working together to support each other. This is something that doesn’t always happen in agriculture.

Recently we have entered the world of blogging and I have found that to write, you need inspiration, which for me usually means that I have to be driven by something.  I have tried to start jotting down ideas on my phone when they come to me (thanks Jeff Fowle), and then approaching them later, but the most effective seems to be writing in the heat of the moment.

I hope many more in agriculture would start having the conversations about our farms and ranches in any of these mediums.  We all need you!  If you think for one minute you can’t make a difference or that your voice isn’t needed, search “factory farming” on YouTube and see what you come up wit, then tell me we don’t need you.  Whose voice is countering the misinformation?  If not you, then who?

Why did I get involved?  Because no one else is going to tell my story! Who is telling your farm story? Take the time to learn these new tools the same way you’ve adapted to technology in your equipment.

Ryan and his wife Kristi raise yellow corn, popcorn, soybeans, alfalfa and prairie hay on the family farm settled by his family in the late 1800’s.  Both are active in civic and volunteer organizations at the state and local level.   You can find their farm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WeeksFarms and their blog at www.cornhuskerfarmer.wordpress.com

Hungry for more? Related posts:
Agvocating in the World of Social Media
Defense: Agriculture’s No-Win Strategy
Why Farmers Should NOT Speak Up