Happy 4th Birthday AgChat. That’s right. Four years of a weekly Twitter conversation about agriculture and food (FoodChat).

Last night was a lively AgChat on the topic of “What’s needed in #socialmedia for #ag.” Our moderator was the very popular @cowartandmore who did a marvelous job.

You can find the very first tweet here:

Testing out #agchat…currently scheduled for Tuesdays at 8-10 p.m.

Thanks to Michele Payn-Knoper for getting this started. Thanks to Kathy Swift for the image she tweeted last night!

Last night’s AgChat topic was animal welfare. You can find some good information on animal welfare here. Apparently the animal rights activists got word of it and rallied their troops to try to disrupt the regular weekly conversation. In fact, the outreach coordinator at HSUS sent out an alert which I saw a copy of . It was pathetic to see. Very PETA-like IMO. He even sent out a form tweet for them to use. Here is one that was used. This same tweet was posted by numerous individuals who I am sure had absolutely no idea what they are doing.

Post Update: You can now see the archive of last night’s AgChat here.

Farmers simply won’t be trusted if they defend, rather than work to get rid of, abuses like pig gestation crates. #AgChat

— Water Rat (@waterrat1_rat) January 23, 2013

Bottom line is that their tactic didn’t work. AgChat was moderated last night by founder Michele Payn-Knoper and she handled the situation professionally, calmly and in a very classy way. I say classy because it was such a contrast to the wacktivists and their tweets and complete refusal to participate in a way that allows for genuine interaction.

This effort comes right after a similar effort we’ve seen in the last week regarding our report on Ag Secretary Vilsack’s HSUS remark at the American Farm Bureau annual mtg. and attempt to disrupt our latest ZimmPoll. There is no common ground with these folks and fortunately they are a very small but vocal minority. However, the militant vegans at HSUS/PETA have conned a lot of money out of people by playing on their emotions. They are using that money to impact legislation to the detriment of farming in America. The lies they tell that I’ve seen in their online posted comments is appalling. I think these folks are becoming more active as they see farmers become more engaged in social media and adept at telling their story. They don’t like their money base to learn the truth about animal agriculture and animal welfare. Hopefully it’s hurting them where it counts, in their pocket book!

The AgChat Foundation is happy to announce a newly designed website. Special thanks to Charleston|Orwig for assisting the organization on this project.

In case you’re wondering how the AgChat Foundation benefits agriculture, read this.

An engaged community. A collective voice. A chance for agriculture to work together for the common good. The ability to touch millions of people who may only connect with farms because they eat, and that may or not occur to them to be a connection. The use of social media in agriculture allows the agriculture community a unique connection to the 98% of people who do not reside on a farm or ranch. The telling of their stories are among the most believable resources available which means they have the strongest voice for agriculture. The Foundation is designed to serve as a conduit for those farmers and ranchers as we empower them to become agvocates.

It’s just about time for the 2012 AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 Training Conference. Things will kick off tomorrow with a board meeting of the AgChat Foundation followed by an Agtastic Tweet-Up which the attendees of the NAMA Boot Camp are invited to. Then the program kicks off in high gear on Thursday morning. Jamie Johansen and I will be on location during the conference. I’m conducting a session titled, “Media Creation, Storytelling & Publishing” on Friday morning.

Judging by the amount of posts onto the event FB page there are some pretty excited folks getting ready to head to Kansas City, MO. Jamie and I will be sharing some stories and photos from there as we enjoy some great fellowship with farmer agvocates who are gearing up to tell their story to the world.

AgChat celebrated its third anniversary with last night’s session. I didn’t make it all the way through but it was going strong when I had to drop out. Hopefully you’ve been able to participate sometime. Judging by all the tweets things are still going strong. I am constantly amazed by the diversity of tweeters both by occupation and location. Here’s the list of questions from last night. The topic was “what’s need in SM for ag.” Our moderator was @CowArtAndMore.

• Q1 via @mm98273 @TerraFresh What app or tool [as a farmer or rancher] do you find most useful for your daily operations (inc. SM)?
• Q2 via @TruffleMedia Over last 3 yrs new SM channels added. Others updated. How do you feel on change?
• Q3 via @cowartandmore How does Pinterest and other ‘picture type’ sites fit into a social media strategy?
• Q4 via @OwyheeProduce Has the agriculture community learned how to correctly become social in terms of social media?
• Q5 via @TruffleMedia Producer or Farmer? Profit or Earn A Living? What words do you use?
• Q6 via @OwyheeProduce What type of content do you find most engaging in terms of agriculture through social media?
• Q7 via @carabecca What are some of the ways agvocates are reaching their non-ag audience – hashtags, etc?
• Q8 via @TerraFresh What has been your biggest challenge when using social media in terms of agriculture?
• Q9 via @OwyheeProduce What are your goals to the non-agriculture community through the use of social media?
• Q10 via @LaurenMSea @Mouseinmypocket How do we improve relating to the general public instead of other farmers?
• Q11 Ok folks, what’s your one executable idea from this evening’s convo?

The third annual AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 event is scheduled for August 23-34 in Kansas City, MO. This is where farmers and ranchers from across the nation will convene to learn how to better support agriculture and engage with non-farm consumers. Will you be there?

Agvocacy 2.0 is hosted by the AgChat Foundation, a primarily volunteer organization that aims to empower farmers and ranchers to “agvocate” by connecting consumers with accurate information about farming and food production using social media.

AgChat will celebrate the third anniversary of #AgChat weekly conversations and the second anniversary of the AgChat Foundation the week of April 2 − 8.

The AgChat Foundation just announced the winner of their Facebook Cover Photo Contest.

Congratulations to Judi Graff for having the top pick and winning $100.00. Her photo titled “Posts Smell Tweet” earned the honor of being AgChat Foundation’s first ever cover photo! Go check it out on our Facebook page now.

The AgChat Foundation just announced new board members.

Four new members have joined the AgChat Foundation board of directors, adding different types of experience in social media and agriculture to the nonprofit, announces President Darin Grimm. Last month, organic dairy farmer Emily Zweber, Elko, Minn., was named the organization’s first executive director.

Blue, Bowers, Hoadley and VanderWerff, along with the rest of the AgChat Board and the training committee, are planning the nonprofit’s third annual social media and thought-leadership conference. “We will be announcing the city and date shortly,” Grimm says. “Our group is working hard to ensure that the conference content is keeping pace with the rapidly changing social media landscape.”