AgTalk welcomes farmers who are looking for a little help from their friends. I was unaware of AgTalk until reading an AP story sent in by alert AgWired reader, Gary Truitt. This looks like an online forums spot that’s been up and running for quite some time. I don’t know much beyond what you can see but maybe I can get in touch with them for an interview to learn more.

The AP story makes a point about farmer use of the internet that I think some in the ag communications world are still finding it hard to accept, “Online message boards and chat rooms are replacing rural coffee shops and feed mills as places for farmers to talk farming and trade tips as more of rural America goes online.” Any of us who have been immersed in online agricultural communications know this and we also know how difficult it is to quantify it and qualify it.

I thought it was interesting that the story doesn’t mention blogs or podcasts at all even though we’re seeing a real growth in the number of both dedicated to agriculture. Blogs that are updated frequently and in reaction to the requests and comments of readers can be a very good interactive communication tool to help farmers keep up to date more quickly than with traditional methods. I can see how user forums can be very useful to farmers too as they get direct feedback from their peers.

Do you think AgWired should start a user forums section? I can implement it fairly easily and quickly.