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Mountaineer Farm Talk: An Agriculture Discussion Reaching New Audiences Through Social Media

Brandy Brabham, James Barrett, Evan Wilson, and Joshua Peplowski

Summary

Farming can be isolating for many socially disadvantaged and new/beginning farmers. New and social-disadvantaged farmers may not have the traditional support of a farming lineage to rely on and often turn to the internet and/or social media for information. To meet these audiences where they are, WVU Extension Agents in the Mid-Ohio Valley region of WV created Mountaineer Farm Talk (MFT) as a venue to provide research-based information on a variety of agriculture-related topics.

MFT is a weekly live broadcast featuring interviews with Extension Service professionals and other agricultural experts about timely, important topics to farmers and agriculture service providers alike in West Virginia. Using the ZOOM platform and creating a social media profile linked to the weekly broadcasts, participants can learn and ask questions of the hosts and guests. Outreach efforts are extended state-wide through Extension, state and federal partners, and agricultural organizations.

There were 31 episodes in 2021 and 36 episodes in 2022. The MFT social media platform has reached 32,036 viewers, had 1,177 page visitors, and had 621 "likes" in 2022. There was an average of 12.76 live participants and 217 average views of the recordings. Evaluations revealed 43 percent of respondents identified as socially disadvantaged or as new/beginning farmers. Follow-up evaluations of participants indicate changes to practices and implementation of new strategies to address risk management concerns because of this program.

This presentation will discuss formatting challenges, ongoing considerations to increase participation, targeting special audiences, obtaining relevant guests/topics, and ensuring evaluations capture your risk management impacts.

Details

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