By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

WEST SALEM, Ohio — Social media is a good way for farmers to start a conversation with people not involved in farming. That’s what Mike Haley learned when he attended a session about social media at an Ohio Farm Bureau Young Agricultural Professional’s conference a couple of years ago.
Haley decided to give it a try.

“I thought that was a neat way to try and reach outside of the box,” he said. “To share more information about what I do every day on the farm and my views on agriculture so people can hear another side of the story before they make their opinions.”

One thing that motivated Haley to get involved was that a few years prior, an animal rights organization had targeted some farms in Wayne County, where he lived. He was surprised at how disconnected from agriculture the people were, even in that rural area. He said it concerned him a lot.
“Activist groups put a twist on a lot of the practices that we use in modern farming,” Haley said. “A lot of times what they’re saying is completely opposite of why we use some of the practices. If farmers aren’t willing to be out there to explain why they are using a practice when somebody has a question about it then there is really not another voice out there for us.”

Haley became involved in a weekly online chat group with Michele Payn-Knoper, from Indiana, and some other farmers. They became friends. About a year later they formed the AgChat Foundation. Haley is now vice president of the group.
“What we’re trying to do with AgChat, and we’re still in the beginning stages, we’re trying to help other farmers learn the tools a little better,” Haley said. “In August, we had a training session in Chicago. We had 50 farmers in attendance plus about 20 other industry representatives. We talked about blogging and Twitter and Facebook. Some speakers shared information about better ways to take videos.”

AgChat is providing farmers with basic and more advanced skills, Haley said. They’re trying to help farmers and ranchers get their message to more people.
“The biggest thing is be open, be willing to share information about what you do and how you do it, to be respectful of all opinions,” Haley said. “It’s about having a conversation. It is not about forcing a message on somebody.”
He has as much to learn from people who don’t understand agriculture as they have to learn from him, Haley said.  Social media is about creating relationships with people not involved in agriculture.

Twitter is Haley’s favorite online forum. When he is working on the farm he will post “Tweets” just telling what is going on. Once he posted a photo of a newborn calf.

When he has time, maybe a couple of hours after the post, he will check to see if he received any responses or questions. People might comment about an article they read, or a farmer they know. It could be the start of a conversation.

“Each little thing like that to me is a success,” Haley said. “It’s the little things that make me smile, the one-on-one conversations I have with people.”
To view Haley’s Twitter posts, go to www.twitter.com/FarmerHaley - you don’t need a Twitter account to view the posts.

To learn more about the AgChat session, which is a weekly moderated conversation on Twitter for farmers and ranchers visit www.causematters.com or www.agchat.org