By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

LEBANON, Ind. — Thanks to a communication source called AgChat, sharing agriculture issues and ideas with others is just a mouse click away.

AgChat is a weekly moderated conservation on Twitter for people in the business of raising food, feed, fuel and fiber. It is a virtual venue for participants on Twitter to share viewpoints and ideas about the issue impacting agriculture.

Michele Payn-Knoper of Lebanon, Ind., is the founder of AgChat. Payn-Knoper is a professional speaker, consultant and principal with Cause Matters Corporation. The company specializes in food nutrition to farm and agriculture advocacy, as well as grassroots marketing and social media strategy.

“AgChat is 2,000 people in eight countries on four continents,” Payn-Knoper said. “It’s about building a community for agriculture so people are talking. It’s a great opportunity for conversation.”
“AgChat is the largest online Twitter community dedicated to creating conversation around North American agricultural issues,” she said.

Each Tuesday, members of the AgChat community convene online from 8-10 p.m. (EST) for Twitter feed. Chats begin with 15 minutes of networking, followed by four to seven questions the community sends to the moderator in advance on the topic of the week.
“The chat is fast-paced, insightful and oftentimes colorful,” Payn-Knoper said. “Followers of AgChat include farmers, foodies, moms, agronomists, agribusinesses, community garden supporters and more,” she said.

Payn-Knoper started AgChat in 2009 in an attempt to build a stronger connection between the farm gate and consumer plate. She has an advisory board of diverse geographical representatives from across agriculture sectors. One board member is Mike Haney, a farmer from West Salem, Ohio, monitors AgChat conversation dealing with farming.

“I’m a fulltime farmer and I use AgChat,” Haney said. “Farmers use it all the time, discussing things back and forth. AgChat bridges the divide between rural and urban people. But the biggest and most valuable to agriculture is to help connect farmers with consumers. This social media gives us a big tool to bring people together and allows us to connect with them.”

Payn-Knoper is quite familiar with agriculture and has vast experience in raising Holsteins. She holds degrees in agricultural communications and animal science from Michigan State University and currently volunteers for the Boone County 4-H and FFA in central Indiana.

Anyone interested in participating should log into Twitter at www.twitter.com and use the search function for agchat.