During the last few days, some exciting events have happened in the world of agriculture and Messing Dairy. Friday afternoon my mother called me absolutely bewildered.
“Ashley, you will never guess who I just got off the phone with.”
Of course, I had no idea so I asked her who it who it was.
“The milk cooperative called and asked if we would be the face of dairy in the Kroger stores.”
All I could respond with was, “What are you talking about?”
My mom explained further, “Last year Kroger (a Midwestern grocery chain) featured a vegetable farmer in all of their stores to show where the produce comes from. This year they want a dairy farmer and Michigan Milk Producers Association chose us because we ship quality milk to the plant that all of Kroger’s milk comes from.”
So at this point I was thinking about what a big deal this is. The Messing Family gets the opportunity to represent the entire industry in a Midwestern grocery chain. Then the pressure and anxiety begins to set in. We need to represent the industry in a great way. We need to make sure we show what dairy production and American agriculture is all about. Our story is something so important, and for it to be seen in the grocery store as mothers are pulling their gallon of milk out of the cooler is essential.
The rest of the day I spent trying to figure out how I was going to make sure my parents were ready to bring this kind of a group onto the farm. Having to come up with the quote they wanted was going to be a challenge as well. This morning I got the most exciting news of all. The AGChat Foundation was announced today. It was started by a group of farmers to train other farmers how to use social media. This training is then used to agvocate (agriculture + advocate = agvocate) for agriculture and to tell our story.
With this phenomenal new resource available my family and I will be ready to bring anyone on the farm and promote agriculture. Just as the AGChat Foundation mission says, they want to put a face to the plate, so do I. I want to make sure when that mother buys her gallon of milk she knows that my family is one of the hundreds out on the farm each day making a safe and wholesome product.
Each of us in agriculture need to step up and put in the effort to show where food comes from. Use the resources available to prepare you for social media and begin spreading the word. Click here to check out the AGChat Foundation.
