Strathroy-area farmer Andrew Campbell is urging the agriculture industry to better use social media.
Speaking with BlackburnNews.com, Campbell says platforms like Twitter and Facebook are where people are talking and the ag-sector needs to be there.
"If we're not in that space, those consumers are going to find their information about the industry [elsewhere, and] it's probably not the message that we want and maybe not even the truth," says Campbell. "If we're not in that space, they're probably making decisions both for us and when they go to the grocery store that aren't really in our interest."
Campbell has spoken on the topic at a number of events, including most recently in Chatham. He hopes more farmers come on board.
"I'm not saying every farmer needs to sign up for Twitter or else we're all doomed, but I think as an industry we have to start thinking a little bit differently about social media," he says. "How are we going to use this as an industry collectively to reach a consumer?"
Campbell sees social media benefiting farmers in many ways.
"If you're interested in no till production there's going to be a lot of other farmers on Twitter or Facebook or other social media tools that are of the same mentality that maybe you can learn back and forth," says Campbell. "They may not be on the next farm."
Campbell has grown a large social media following including 17,000 followers on Twitter where he tweets regularly about the day-to-day activities on his farm.
