I’ve met a lot of people lately that own farms and are heavily involved in the agricultural arena. Whether it’s crops or animals, all of them are starting to take notice that it is important to have a web presence — and I’m not talking just a website, but a social networking presence as well.

Let’s start at the beginning: Why do they need a website? Agriculture is expanding beyond getting in your pick-up and driving hundreds of miles to go “check out” a prospective crop or animal that is for purchase. Why drive when you can log on to the interwebs in your PJ’s and ultimately do that shopping online?! I recently redesigned an 8-year old livestock website that saw a 275% increase in visitors within the first month the new interactive layout was launched. The layout highlights the owners Twitter account, directions to the farm, how to get in contact, recent events, and much more. That farm is now getting requests for tours, possible livestock sales, breeding, etc.

Ok, now on to the social networking aspect. An article was posted on CNN today titled, Twittering from the Tractor: Smartphones Sprout on the Farm. While I do take some credit for the 275% increase in traffic to the website I mentioned above, a great deal of the traffic for that website is coming from the various social networking channels that owner is CONSISTENTLY interacting with. I highlight “consistently” because most often people forget that that is the key. Sure you can set up a Twitter or Facebook account and pray to the Social Networking Gods that it will get noticed, but you’ll probably get better results if you actually make an effort to reach out to your prospective audience. To the non-farmer, knowing the status of a wheat field may not be important, but to other farmers and wheat buyers that provide for consumers, this information is priceless.

Over the next couple years I see this industry doing a 180 in terms of how they communicate, market themselves, and in the way that they farm. With rising gas prices and the state of the economy, finding a more economical approach through these various media channels becomes a no-brainer for the entire agriculture industry.