Agriculture has a small footprint in the digital media space compared to the anti-agriculture movement, according to the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA).
There are only 4-5,000 agricultural advocates on social media, according to USFRA, who post three or more times per month about food and agricultural-related issues. There are, however, many influential voices that are unsupportive of conventional agriculture generating a larger impact using emotional content to misinform today’s consumer.
In a proactive effort to bring farmers and ranchers into the mainstream conversation, USFRA is launching engAGe—a new app to give farmers, ranchers and advocates a turnkey tool in sharing their story on social media. This platform allows users to stay up to date on current news in agriculture and broadens relevant content to their social media channels with a simple click. It’s easy to download and integrates with social media accounts to strengthen agriculture’s voices and share a united message.
“Agriculture has an opportunity to come together and proactively elevate the voices of farmers, ranchers and agriculturalists on social media,” Brad Greenway, USFRA chairman and South Dakota diversified crop and animal farmer, said. “We know through USFRA research that consumers are interested in how their food is grown and raised. It’s our responsibility to take five to 10 minutes a day to join the dialogue on social media and share our story while we’re in the fields and in our barns.”
The news feed within the app allows users to publish stories and posts to their own social media networks. EngAGe also encourages farmers, ranchers and advocates to network with others, so if someone has a video, photo, link or story they want to share, it can be posted and distributed to the entire engAGe community.
How to download engAGe:
• To join, search “Dynamic Signal” in either iTunes or Google Play and download the free app.
• Once you download and open the app, the app will prompt you to enter the engAGe community code: ENGAGE (not case sensitive).
• Once you type in the community code, you will be able to create an engAGe account.
If agriculture doesn’t talk about how we grow and raise food, consumers will get their information elsewhere. It may be incorrect and told from the perspective of someone who’s never been to a farm or ranch. This makes it crucial for the agricultural community to use engAGe, share your story through videos, photos and hashtags and highlight how you’ve adopted technology to enhance environmental sustainability and animal welfare.