The Value of a Passion for Agriculture

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking at the Harrisburg High School FFA’s annual banquet.

I asked on facebook what I should talk about, I got a variety of answers  so I tried to touch on all of it.

Nine years ago I walked the halls of this high school.  Since then I have worked as a cheese maker, milk truck driver, pasteurizer, lobbyists’ intern, Farm Credit banker and now farmer.  I graduated from Washington State University in 2008 with two degrees one in General Agriculture and one in Agricultural Economics & Management. I am currently president of Oregon Women for Agriculture and an AgChat Foundation Board member.

All of that wouldn’t be possible without agriculture and following what I am passionate about.

I love talking about agriculture and issues facing farmers and ranchers. I love using social media.  I often use social media to talk about farming.

In 2009 I joined twitter to participate in a weekly twitter conversation about agriculture called #Agchat.  Little did I know what a few tweets would turn into.  I started a blog in February 2011 to expand on my tweets and facebook posts.  In August 2011 I attended my first AgChat Foundation AgVocacy 2.0 conference.

The mission of the AgChat Foundation is to “Empower farmers and ranchers through social media.” The conferences offer training to better your social media skills and use them to engage others about farming, ranching and where their food comes from.  In December of 2011 they asked me to be on their board.

I now chair the #agchat & #Foodchat conversations on twitter. #Agchat happens every Tuesday from 5 pm to 7 pm except every 3^rd Tuesday when #FoodChat takes place.   In June, I am going to New York City on behalf of the AgChat Foundation to another type of social media conference to discuss knowing your farmer through the twitter chats.

It is amazing where following your passion will lead you.  I encourage you to do just that.  Find your passion and live it.

If you are passionate about agriculture then there are limitless possibilities of where that could lead you.  Ag offers variety of opportunities and options.

Currently 1 in 8 jobs in Oregon are tied to agriculture.  While not everyone can be a farmer and not everyone can be an ag banker.  If you want to pursue a career in agriculture it’s more than possible.   Look at the variety of jobs I had in the past 9 years, they all involved agriculture of some type.

My freshman year of college I was not quite sure the direction I wanted to go in.   A mentor told me to get a degree in Agriculture because a politic science degree was a dime a dozen.  And it was true.  I graduated right when a recession was happening.  My friends who didn’t have experience or a degree in agriculture had trouble finding jobs.  While the majority of us “ag kids” had jobs lined up.

Bottom line is that the experience you are getting being involved in FFA and ultimately agriculture is priceless to the success of your future.

Honored and Humbled, Thank you!

On Friday night I received a very prestigious award, the Agri-Business Council of Oregon’s Ag Connection Award.  I was unable to accept the award in person at the Annual Diamonds and Denim event because it was the night before my sister’s wedding (blog post to come). However, Paulette Pyle, the grassroots director for Oregonians for Food and Shelter, accepted it for me.  She is and has been a great mentor and role model to me since I was in high school.

This award was not something I expected.

I feel very blessed and grateful for this award because to me I am just doing what needs to be done for an industry that I am passionate for.

I am proud of my accomplishment and wanted to share it with my friends.

This video played during Denim and Diamonds:

Here is a link to the article in Agri-Business Council’s bimonthly publication:

2012 Ag Connection of the Year:  Marie Bowers

At the same ceremony they honored Dale Buck, a dairy farmer from the Oregon Coast. I just hope one day I can be as well-respected as he is.  I had the opportunity to share a table with him at Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom’s annual dinner.  He is an inspiring individual and very deserving of his award, Agriculturist of the Year.

Here is his video:

I  hope that my and Dale’s efforts inspire others and inform people about this awesome industry known as Oregon Agriculture!

Thank you Agri-Business Council of Oregon for this great honor.  I am truly honored and humbled.

#FoodThanks

I saw a couple of images this week that made me very thankful for the food we eat and for EVERYONE that helps bring it to us.

The below image is why I LOVE Oregon Agriculture!

Farmers and ranchers work hard year around to make sure that we have a safe and abundant food supply.

Hope you join me in showing #FoodThanks to all who make sure it arrives safely on our table!

Happy Thanksgiving!

How Twitter Changed my Life

I joined twitter March 21st of 2009.  I have tweeted 12,500+ times since then or roughly about 11 times a day.

I don’t remember what my first tweet was nor do I remember when I sent it, I think it was somewhere in mid ’09 to beginning of ’10.  I do remember when I started becoming really active. A friend, who blogged & was very active in the Young Washington Cattleman’s, encouraged me to become more active and start participating in this thing called #AgChat.  She explained this was a hashtag or topic used to discuss all things agriculture & they have a weekly chat on Tuesday’s from 5pm to 7pm PST.

According to a data dude I know, I started using the “#agchat” on tweets relating to agriculture in March of ’10.  This makes sense as I attended Syngenta’s Leadership At Its Best through American AgriWomen in April of 2010 and had my first “tweetup” with Michele Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper) & Cari Rincker (@CariRincker).  Of course we didn’t call it a tweetup and it was my first experience meeting the strangers I followed.  It was at this event in North Carolina I learned social media from Michele. I am fairly certain after this event my obsession…er…I mean…my interest in social media skyrocketed.

Over the next year I tweeted like a maniac. I would share things about agriculture, particupate in #agchat’s, and talk about every day things as well. There were numerous conversations with people from around the country discussing various topics.  I was gaining followers and finding other neat & exciting people to follow.  Many times I wanted to elaborate more than 140 characters on a subject or not bore my facebook friends with long posts so I started contemplating a blog.

In February ’11 I took that step. Thanks to Jeff Fowle (@JeffFowle), a social media friend I had never met, we came up with the title Oregon Green! Now I just needed to figure out what I wanted to write about.  Then I saw an article about how today’s women weren’t involved in “Big Ag”.  As a woman who agriculture is part of my being, I responded with my first blog post, “Women in ‘Big Ag’”.

I continued to build relationships & friendships through twitter. Having serious & silly conversations with folks.  In August ’11, I was fortunate enough to attend AgVocacy 2.0 presented by the AgChat Foundation. This is where my people or tweeps who I called friends actually became friends. I would attempt to name them all but afraid I would leave someone out but you all know who you are!

Since attending AgVocacy 2.0, my life has been a social media blur. In December ’11 I was asked to join the AgChat Foundation board, moderated #AgChat’s and have had several more “tweet-ups”.

Most recently I road-tripped down to Califonia to meet two social media friends, Megan Brown (@megraeb) & Jenny Dewey (@jenlynndewey).  The authenticity of the people I meet via twitter never ceases to astound me and Megan & Jenny were no exceptions to that.  I hope this next year bring many more “tweeps”  in real life. 

The social media social network I have created for myself in the last 3 years blows my mind.  My world has become much smaller that’s for sure.  Twitter & social media have advanced my professional opportunities, gave me a chance to spread the word of Oregon Agriculture and most importantly tell my story.