Trends in Social Media & Agriculture
A Bradshaw Vineyards Case Study
I’ve just returned from “Trends in Agriculture,” which was hosted by National Agri-Marketers Association in Kansas City, Missouri. At TIA, I presented my a case study of how my family is using social media to tell the Bradshaw Vineyards story, engage with the winery who buys our grapes (King Estate | @KingEstate) and connect with pinot noir wine lovers everywhere.
Full presentation embedded below, 6 follow-up thoughts included after the jump.
It was an incredible experience.
And here are 6 reasons why:
1 – FARMERS ARE ON THE CUTTING EDGE.
I was impressed, but not surprised to find out how many farmers are using digital technology to create efficiencies, consume and store commodity information and connect with consumers. Mobile is leading the way, but social is not far behind. This makes complete sense to me, knowing how my dad and mom always look for new tools to help him better operate our farm, ranch and vineyard operations over the years in Oregon and Wyoming. I was especially impressed with my co-panelists Joe Grigsby (Director, Emerging Media at VML) and Joel Jaeger (who founded Commodity Update with his family, in addition to farming in Eastern Colorado and Belize), as well as Sara, Brad and Bryan from Paulsen Marketing (“the ag and rural lifestyle specialists”). They interviewed me for their blog “On the Road” (video below).
2 – FIRM HANDSHAKES, BIG HEARTS, PRODUCTIVITY.
It was nice to be with a group of people who were unequivocally genuine, hard working and solid.
3 – CONNECTING WITH THE SUCCESSFUL FARMING CREW.
New Media Strategies is owned by Meredith Publishing. So is Successful Farming. It was like meeting a sibling you didn’t know you had years after the fact and realizing you have so much in common. Curt Blades is the one who made the initial connection after seeing NMS in my bio on the NAMA website; he then introduced me to John Walter (Executive Editor of Successful Farming), Scott Mortimer (Publisher of Successful Farming), Tom Davis (VP / Group Publisher for Meredith) and Janelle Buxton. Was really impressed to learn they were leveraging Ning to build a community for young farmers: Farmers for the Future.
4 – MEETING “AG WIRED” CHUCK ZIMMERMAN IRL.
He does a great job with blogging, video, photo (Flickr + TwitPic) on his site www.AgWired.com | @AgriBlogger (and also publishes www.DomesticFuel.com, www.WorldDairyDiary.com, www.PrecisionPays.com and www.AgNewsWire.com). We were able to get a podcast interview in; he also did some great tweeting and TwitPic’ing of / for me during my presentation (see below).
5 – STEVE MERCER ROCKS.
So a big and special thanks to Trends in Agriculture Chair, Steve Mercer (who serves in a full time capacity as the Director of Communications at U.S. Wheat Associates | @USWheatAssoc out in Washington, DC); Steve first introduced me to NAMA back in May / June 2009, when Alex Redmond and I spoke to the DC Ag Communicators.
6 – FARMING IS IN MY BLOOD, GROUNDS ME AS MY ROOTS.
As I share in slides 3 & 4 of my presentation, I have had farming in my blood for at least 5 generations (and likely / obviously well before that the more I think about it). To be able to continue this tradition in a modern context, blending the land and the technology in such a fruitful way, is truly the most meaningful thing I could imagine doing with my time.
Comments:
Steve Mercer, November 16, 2009 at 2:09 pm: As the Cowardly Lion said, “Shucks, folks, I’m speechless.” It’s easy to rock when you see such enthusiasm and talent as Leslie has. My simple thought: I had to get Leslie (and NMS) and agrimarketers together. Thanks for doing such a great job!
Author’s note:
Originally published on my WordPress blog, Trends in Social Media and Agriculture | A Bradshaw Vineyards Case Study [November 12, 2009]
