I’ve heard it in meetings with Extension educators, chatting with college students, and at professional networking events. In every setting, people are saying the same thing:

Farmers don’t use social media.

Now these people won’t deny that there are always those few “early adopters”. But they aren’t the norm. They’re all young and, as children of current farm owners, they don’t really have any power.

I beg to differ.

Farmers and ranchers – of all ages, parts of the world, ideals and farm sizes – are taking to their laptops, iPads and smartphones to tap into social media tools. And, they’re not just sharing photos of grandkids and keeping up with relatives. They’re using their online voices to make agriculture more accessible.

At any given #AgChat or #FoodChat conversation (Tuesday nights on Twitter), you’ll stumble upon farmers and nonfarmers from all walks of life, farming methods and backgrounds. You’d probably be shocked to learn that more than 2,500 people from eight countries on four continents have participated in these conversations since 2009. What are they talking about? Soil and water conservation, increasing yield, technology in agriculture, hunger around the world, giving thanks for food, nutrition, food marketing – all of these, and more, have been conversation topics throughout the last two years.

It doesn’t stop there either. Hundreds of farmers and ranchers are blogging about their operations, posting photos of day-to-day farm activities, explaining what they’re doing through YouTube videos and running Facebook pages where they can interact with consumers.

Still want to hear more?

- During November 2011, more than 4,650 tweets were sent by 1,216 people during the #FoodThanks campaign – an online, farmer-led movement to raise awareness about how lucky we are to have a diverse, easily accessible food supply in the U.S.

- In August 2011, more than 125 farmers and ranchers from across the country gathered in Nashville, Tenn. for the second-annual AgChat Foundation Conference. They came to learn about social media platforms, mobile technology and connecting with people outside of the agriculture community.

- As of 2010, more than 850 people had registered in the Follow Farmer database – an online source for finding farmers and ranchers on Twitter

- All across the country, commodity organizations, student groups, Farm Bureaus and more are operating their own social media training sessions for members

- Between April 2009 and August 2010, the #AgChat hashtag was tweeted more than 98,000 times by 4,777 people.

Now, try to tell me again that farmers don’t use social media.

The question is, though, what does this mean for us as marketers?

First off, it does not mean that we’ve stumbled upon a whole new group of people to push products on. If you think that’s what it means, you’re still confused about the “social” part of social media.

However, it does mean that we have a large base of customers who want to have conversations in the digital space. They don’t just want to talk about products, though. They want to talk about everything agriculture. That means on-farm challenges, generational transitions, confidence among consumers, threats from activists and more.

The opportunity for marketers lies in the fact that your client or company has a chance to be a part of these conversations. Participation has so many benefits: the chance to build awareness, gain insights from customers, increase trust and grow credibility among an important audience.

Still want to ignore social media as a key part of your strategy? Go ahead. Whether you’re there are not, the people whose purchases keep your business successful are having a conversation. Can you afford not to be part of it?

Want to find farmers in the social media realm and learn more about how the agriculture community is taking to the online world? Check out the video below from the AgChat Foundation and visit the Follow Farmer database.