Social media is a key component in the World we live in. There are well over 300 different forms of social media, apps and tools made available, with new ones being invented almost daily.
Facebook, one of the more common networking sites has surpassed the 1.19 billion user mark. Twitter has over 500 million users and Youtube hits over 4 billion views daily (expandedramblings.com). We have reached a time where access to the internet is common-place, knowledge lies in any smartphone user’s hands.
Whether we care to admit it or not, this internet-technology-driven society has also had a major impact on agriculture. Extremists Groups, such as PETA, take no shame in pushing out-of-context, undercover video footage all over YouTube and Facebook to shed negative attention onto agricultural practices in an effort to discourage consumers from eating meat and dairy products. Other parties utilize social media in an effort to deter consumers from purchasing conventionally grown vegetable crops, leading millions to believe genetically modified foods are harmful to both the consumer and the environment. Everyone has a right to their own opinions and North American culture prides itself on the Freedom of Speech. The use of tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc has only helped to further enable that right.
Cowsmopolitan’s Facebook page is quickly approaching the 15000 “likes” milestone, the majority of our fans being dairy enthusiasts and producers. So how many of us are taking advantage of having access to millions and millions of people and sharing with them the true story behind what it is we do for a living. Dairy farming is one of the most commonly attacked industries within Agriculture, and there are so few who actively refute those who have so much to say against a truly rewarding lifestyle.
Not everyone has time to start up a blog to share with the World all the wonders and heartaches that come with dairy farming, but being aware of the online activists in our industry is something of huge importance. Make use of your facebook and Twitter accounts and share with your friends and contacts those informative blogs and tweets. You never know who this information will reach and whose uneducated opinions you might challenge.
It really doesn’t matter if a consumer chooses organic over conventional or what type of milk they choose, what’s important is that that consumer is making their choice based on true and accurate facts. If we continue to stand by as our industry gets pummeled by our opponents, what sort of justice are we doing to our own lifestyle? After all aren’t we proud of producing nature’s most beautiful and nutritionally delicious commodity?
Written by Janice Baginski, Cowsmopolitan Magazine