Staking a claim for ag in the social media jungle

Opinion

Marketing and farming go hand in hand, says UK communications specialist Simon Haley. In a swing through Ontario that starts later this week, he’ll be urging farmers to use their intrinsic marketing skills to get back in touch with consumers. “Farming is where marketing started,” says Haley. But over the years – as nations became more urban than rural and their dynamics changed appreciably – things went haywire. Consumers started losing sight of farmers. And unfortunately, farmers lost sight of consumers, too. Even though marketing is an intrinsic part of farming, farmers failed to market that most basic feature: themselves.…