Twitter now an essential tool for today's farmer

Monday, April 6, 2015

More and more farmers are discovering the benefits of a communications tool that links them with a global farm network

by MIKE BEAUDIN

When Mark Priest (@mopriester17) found a strange weed in his field, he reached for his smartphone and took a photo of it.

He opened his Twitter app and sent the photo directly to a specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). About 30 minutes later, he had a reply to his question sent back directly to his Twitter account, along with a quick solution on how to get rid of the weed.

It's a story retired government crop specialist Peter Johnson (@WheatPete) is hearing a lot more these days. He says farmers no longer see Twitter as some kind of app for social media geeks. It's now an essential tool for the agriculture community.

"Every farmer should be on Twitter," says Johnson. "We really need to sell that message to the grower."

Twitter has been used a social media app since 2006. The agriculture community largely ignored it for the first few years but, in the past two years, more and more farmers are discovering the benefits of a communications tool that links them with a global farm network.

The beauty of Twitter is that anybody with a smartphone, tablet or computer can use it. It takes minutes to figure out the basics. People follow (subscribe) to a Twitter account (eg. @michaelbeaudin) to 'follow' other people. This allows you to read, reply to and share their tweets (messages) with followers.

With a limit of 140 characters per post, there's no space for the long-winded lectures and off-topic diatribes that frustrated users of the old bulletin boards and chat rooms.

Ask a question, compare notes with other growers, check the weather and, yes, even complain about the Toronto Maple Leafs – all without getting off the seat of your tractor.

Some in the agriculture community have adopted it as a powerful tool to share the farm story. Andrew Campbell (@FreshAirFarmer), a dairy farmer from Middlesex, has been sharing a photo a day of his farm, using the hashtag #farm365. He quickly attracted an audience of more than 15,000 followers and sparked an angry reaction from activists who used #farm365 to spew nasty anti-animal rants.

But for most farmers Twitter is an everyday tool. "I'm more selfish," says Peter Gredig, a farmer and agriculture communications specialist with Kettle Creek Communications and Agnition. "I want to be plugged into brains that are dealing with the same production and financial issues that I am."

Priest, a cash cropper who farms 800 acres with his father in Simcoe County, started on Twitter to follow his passion for sports but he quickly realized its value as a money-making tool. He checks on incoming weather systems to better manage his time, compares his crop with other growers, seeks and shares advice, and even chats with a grain farmer in the Ukraine to get a completely different perspective.

"Everything is getting more and more expensive and every dollar matters that much more," says Priest. "If you can do something that's going to get you that little yield increase or cut your costs a little bit, you're going to do it."

The growth of other technologies, like auto-steer tractors, allows farmers to use Twitter to frequently track information relevant to their operations. Users quickly develop their own network of people to follow and shed those followers who don't interest them.

Gredig says Twitter links like-minded farmers by interest, not by geography. "So much of what farmers do in Western Canada parallels dryland farming in Australia. Farmers in Western Canada don't exchange with farmers in Eastern Canada. They want to talk to farmers in Australia who are speaking the same language."

When asked if Twitter is best left to the younger, more tech-savvy farmers, Gredig suggests anybody who can use robotics and auto-steer can easily master a smartphone.

"It's just farmers talking to farmers," he says. BF