Andrew Campbell is this year's winner of the Farm & Food Care Champion Award.
The Strathroy -area farmer is perhaps best known for his 2015 Twitter initiative 'Farm 365', where he posted one picture a day from his farm for the year.
Campbell says he enjoys taking pictures and was already active on Twitter, so Farm 365 just evolved from that.
He suggests that's important for any farmers interested in getting involved in social media - find something you're interested in then find a way you feel comfortable sharing it.
Campbell says he tries to avoid responding directly to anti-farm activists.
"They're not interested in a conversation they're interested in being right. I'm interested in okay, here's that subject that you're talking about, I happen to be talking about that subject as well today because maybe people are interested in it."
However, he will sometimes respond to issues those activists are raising with tweets of his own to provide the other side of the story.
He also believes it's important to avoid lecturing consumers about agriculture.
"You don't want it to necessarily be okay now sit down, here I'm going to teach you a lesson about farming. It's gotta have that bit of entertainment side of things, too - a bit of lighter side, even if it is a serious issue - so that they'll pay attention and look for it."
And Campbell urges farmers to always keep the consumer in mind when posting material on social media if consumers are going to be your target audience.
He also emphasizes it's the farmer who has to start the conversation.
Campbell was nominated for the award by the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture, with letters of support provided by Dairy Farmers of ontario and the writers from the website www.DinnerStarts.Here.ca.
The Champion Award has been presented annually by Farm & Food Care Ontario since 1999 to worthy agricultural advocates.
===
Campbell suggests for farmers wanting to connect with the consumer it's important to keep them in mind when posting on social media.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CAMPBELL-Award-1.mp3"][/audio]
===
His suggested first step - decide what you want to share and how you want to share it.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CAMPBELL-Award-2.mp3"][/audio]
===
Campbell tries to resist the temptation to respond directly to anti-farm activists because he feels those people have already made up their minds.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CAMPBELL-Award-3.mp3"][/audio]
