Sharing the World of Farmers Through Social Media

Farmers are always on the go, and their work almost always goes unappreciated. For most city dwellers farms and farmers work are out of sight and out of mind. In the past few years though, a movement has grown to showcase the work of farmers on social media.

Many of the social profiles that are sharing insights into the farming world started in Riverina.
Pages such as @thankafarmerforyournextmeal which is run by Jim Honner, a 23-year-old Farmer from Jugiong. The Instagram account currently has over 51,000 followers, and their Facebook page has approximately 28,000 followers.

Jim notes that he gets approximately 40 photos every day using their hashtag and indicates that the majority of their followers are from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Jim explains that city folk have a vast disconnect from the people who produce their food. He thinks that social media can help get rid of the gap and can present farming in a way that is interesting to people since there are so many positive agriculture stories available to tell through pictures. He notes that he has to refuse some offers for sponsored content and advertising since he wants the page to have an unbiased message. The direction of his social media account will continue to aim at providing the modern city dweller with insight into farming.

Another page is @RiverinaHarvest which was started in December 2016 is run by Jess Coe who is 24 years old. Jess receives more than 50 photos a day during harvesting seasons. She is a graphic designer who works on her family farm in Henty. Jess is the lone manager of the page. She explained that people post farming problems and share information and so issues get solved each day thanks to the page and the community it has created.

The account currently has a following of 11,200 and she gains no income from her site.
Both of the pages mentioned above have started a clothing and merchandise line to build their platforms. Jim notes that they began with hats in 2014. The pages help to grow awareness for conscious consumption. \

Another account is @thepastyfarmer which is run by Steve Honner. After moving back to Sydney around a year ago to help out on his dad's farm, he created this as a personal account. He wanted to create an account that would help to counteract the negativity and stereotypes that surround people who live in farming communities and other rural areas.

He wants farmers to be more transparent and share their practices. Steve believes this will help people to draw their conclusions based on what they see on the news, which too often covers farming only when there is something negative to report.

Those that grow up in farming take their lifestyle for granted. Sharing it, and seeing the reactions helps them see it from a different perspective. Country living is an excellent life and Steve hopes to enable others to see that through his social media account.