Frank talks with farmer and mom blogger panel at Ag Issues Forum.

It’s not every day that a former White House Correspondent and CNN anchor wants to talk food and farming. Frank Sesno did just that while moderating the Bayer Ag Issues Forum at Commodity Classic. I enjoyed working with him at the event last year, so I talked with him for a few minutes about how agriculture can do a better job communicating with the non-farm public.

Frank is the director of the School of Media and Pubic Affairs at George Washington Univeristy, an Emmy winning journalist, and has a couple of major web initiatives focused on innovative use of media. In short, Frank is intriguing, particularly given his team’s efforts in interviewing George Washington University students outside of Whole Foods about what they knew about food’s origins. I captured our conversation on video to give you firsthand perspective.

He first shared his experience with foodie students – and the disconnect between student’s interest and knowledge.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/oX9Y7oTk86E[/youtube]

Tapping into his communications expertise was a great learning opportunity so we next talked about how agriculture can do a better job of communicating with millennials and younger generations today.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/StCs1a4EuBs[/youtube]

Finally, I shared how many farmers question how such a small percentage of the population can get their story to the majority. Frank likens the challenge of farmers to astronauts.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/esioWywuYNs[/youtube]

Conversations like this are a window for agriculture to see into the rest of the world. How will you use it as an opportunity to go beyond the choir?