How much do you really know about how the food you eat is produced?  If you’re like most Americans, it’d be safe to assume not too much.  This weekend, I had the pleasure of speaking about digital and social media to the Young Farmers of the Indiana Farm Bureau as part of their annual leadership gathering.

While animal activists and environmental groups have taken advantage of these tools, most family farmers are just becoming aware of them.  Because rural areas lag behind urban areas with their internet connectivity, broadband is not as prevalent for many farm families.  Not surprisingly, this has placed them at a disadvantage with far more content being produced by those with agendas at odds with the average farmer.  A simple search of YouTube or Google with phrases like “hog facility”, “pork farm”, and “factory farms” can verify this.

During my presentation, someone suggested I search for the YouTube video entitled “Truth about Modern Pork Production”, which was produced by Chris Chinn, a former national president of Young Farmers.  She and her husband made the video themselves to tell their side of the story.  With over 3,100 views, it came up second when I searched “pork farm” on YouTube.

What I love about the video is how Chris presents the family farmers’ perspective with a highly authentic production.  No cue cards, no fancy editing, no fancy graphics.  Just a real person talking with real passion about how her family and she take great care of their animals and farm.  

In searching YouTube, you can also find videos made by the Ohio Pork Producers Council on the Ohio Pork Tour channel.  These are most definitely professional productions and feature real people talking mostly from scripts.  While they have an air of authenticity, I didn’t find them to be as engaging of the home production.  You can see their website that contains the hi-res videos and other information. 

As we continued with my presentation, we found a number of great blogs written by farm families shedding light on daily life on a farm.  I recommend checking out Nature’s Harmony Farm, “a family owned, pasture-based, local-market sustainable farm.”  Also, you can work up a good appetite drooling over the recipes at Farmgirl Fare, as well as see plenty of cute animal photos.  Another fun one is Season Eatings Farm, which includes posts on their daily lives and has great photos.

My guess is that these blogs and videos are just the tip of the iceberg that’s possible once more family farms get rolling with the power of today’s internet.

What do you think are some good ways for family farms to tell their story using digital and social media?

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