Farmers taking to social media for Earth Day

“They go out on Earth Day and they take a picture or tell a story about their farm using the (Twitter) hashtag #FARMVOICES and most of them usually answer one of three questions: what do they love about farming, what are some of their challenges or how do they care for animals and the earth,” Wray explained.

This initiative was first created with the intent of having farmers connect with consumers.

“While that has been a portion of what’s been happening, what’s been really cool and sort of an unintentional outcome of it is that farmers have begun to actually connect to each other and to support each other with their own stories.”

Wray said it’s interesting to see the stories come in to the FarmOn Foundation with people thanking them for creating #FARMVOICES because it showed farmers they aren’t alone with the challenges they face.

“It’s been a really neat way for producers to begin to connect and being to celebrate what they do also.”

In 2014, #FARMVOICES saw over 2,500 stories shared on Twitter on Earth Day and also saw 25 countries take part.

Wray said the initiative is normally just used on Earth Day but it still allows farmers to connect all year round.

“When you look at the amount of land that farmers take care of, Earth Day was a perfect day to choose for #FARMVOICES to begin to tell their own stories about what they do with the earth and the creatures they take care of.”

She said it was really about having a day where farmers can have their say and telling their stories because they are important with what happens every day with our climate, land and resources.

“This is a great way to have an agricultural voice come out and say stuff on Earth Day.”

All farmers have to do to take part is snap a photo or share a story under the hashtag #FARMVOICES and post them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest showing what you want the world to know about your farm.

FarmOn Foundation hopes to continue the initiative into the future.

“It’s been an amazing experience and it’s been really neat for farmers around the world to start to connect to each other and also see some of the similarities in how we do things in North America versus the UK versus Australia or even the things we do differently, it’s neat to see some of the advances that are happening in agriculture and for consumers to see that as well.”

To see stories shared by farmers you can check out FarmOn Foundation’s website.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

by Sarah Wallace

Farmers taking to social media for Earth Day

What's Trending