Social Media for Farming, Agriculture and Vineyards

evergreenweb 2.0fossilBradshaw Vineyards2009

May 20

Hearing and reading phrases like “social media for social good” and “social media for government” in the tech-pop-culture vernacular has me thinking… what kind of applications might there be in other industries, namely, manufacturing and farming? I am also particularly inspired about these topics, as I am fresh off of a two-week trip to my family’s farm and vineyard (located outside of Junction City, Oregon).

As many others have articulated before me, I too have always thought that social media is not just a listening mechanism, but one that helps in telling and documenting. With tangible products being produced such as grapes and cars, vintners and automakers have a great opportunity to use social media to share their story. Putting social media for manufacturing on hold for the moment, I am probably not the first to say this out loud and Lord knows that there are lots of great farm blogs out there like Tiny Farm Blog, Sugar Mountain Farm Blog, Ellwood Thompson’s Blog (to which readers of my blog know I have a personal connection), Old Shaw Farm Blog, Farmgirl Fare, Apifera Farm Blog, the list goes on…. Rather, I’d like to think of what I am sharing as an extension of the conversation… with maybe a few new-fangled tools and apps thrown in for even more impact.

With that said, I have outlined six applications that I think are particularly useful for the agriculture industry. Where appropriate, I also include my personal experiences in hopes to make it that much more real. For #1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 I see the ultimate goal as being able communicate to key audiences, be it consumers of your goods you hope to make loyal customers or members of the media you hope to have cover your story on TV or in print. For #4 in particular, I see general efficiencies being made possible by the likes of Google Maps.

1 – Use Twitter to share fun tweets from around the farm. Usually best with an application like #2 (Utterli) and #3 (Twitpic) below, there is nothing like sharing the in-the-moment thoughts you might have while killing time on the combine tractor. When I was laying irrigation pipe with my dad, I tweeted as much as I could before I had to get my hands in the dirt and purple pipe primer (say that ten times fast!). I had a lot of great responses from my friends, followers and a few new folks. Definitely built up some interest in our family’s endeavors that I hope will translate into long-term brand awareness (warning: marketing speak!)

2 – Consider Utterli to capture farm animal noises. I haven’t done this yet, as we haven’t had pigs, sheep and cattle for a few years… but I think that this would be an awesome thing to document. It’s one thing to tweet about a baby being separated from its baby during weening, it is another to hear it. Not saying I’d want a full minute, but a good 30 second clip would sure make it real. Utterli also allows you to share video and photos, but I think its strongest product is the audio-capture.

3 – Twitpic is a must for capturing photos of the farm on the fly. I really went to town with this application during my two week trip back home. I was sending photos of our trench-digging from my BlackBerry to Twitter, where my friends and family were able to see in almost real time the progress we had made. Even the time of day is apparent in the photos. Check it out:

4 – Google Maps and Google Earth help you plot your land. No one would argue that Google has some mind-blowing innovations that have impacted our lives in major ways. There is also an argument out there that Google tends to buy up (at best) or run out (at worst) smaller companies who have been innovating in similar spaces. That said, my point here is that Google has cataloged what the entire earth’s surface looks like, matching it up precisely with longitudinal and latitudinal markers. What does this mean for farmers and vintners like my family and me? It means we don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to have “fly-over” photos of our land. These “fly-over” or “bird’s-eye-view” images are helpful in mapping out property lines, creek (a.k.a. “crick”) and river boundaries and generally helps you keep track of what is where. While Google’s images won’t update the next morning after you have logged a few acres on your land, what it will help you do is track your property over time. Moreover, because the maps are to scale, you can actually use them as measuring devices. My dad used Google’s products to measure out how much PVC pipe we would need to make it from the top of our vineyard (which is on a hill), down to the creek (a.k.a. “crick”), from which where we plan to pump the water. His measurements using Google were within feet, if not inches, of being SPOT ON. Oh, and did I mention, he did all of this from Wyoming, a few hundred miles away, sitting at his computer. Talk about efficient.

5 – Flickr albums take your farm photos and allow it to be dynamic. Related to Twitpic, Flickr is a great outlet to store high-res versions of your photos and keep track of a crop’s progress over time. A trip last year to Trails End Farm with the Ellwood Thompson’s team allowed us to capture a snapshot (see below as well) of what was happening on their farm. Imagine if you had a daily photo journal of the same spot over the course of a year, five years… maybe even a whole generation. I am looking forward to digitizing some of my family’s footage, knowing that my mom has done an amazing job documenting our farm since we first set foot on it in 1989. Flickr also allows you to store videos that are 90 seconds or less.

6 – Video is essential… make your own commercials, news packages and documentaries. Vimeoand Viddler are both good choices for the aesthetic value as well as the community support (and, of course, YouTube is the universal platform). At any rate, most of my experience with this has again been with the Ellwood Thompson’s team (see their Vimeo profile) and shooting a few of my own videos of mossand Bradshaw Vineyards.

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