MAXWELL, Iowa — As a sixth-generation corn and soybean farmer, Grant Kimberley knows just how much communication in agriculture has changed since his ancestors first tilled the land near Maxwell.

With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media, he has taken advantage of the tremendous resources now available to assist him in his farming operation, passed down to him in 1995. “In our farm operation, we use Facebook some, as does my dad,” said Kimberley, director of market development for the Iowa Soybean Assoc. (ISA) and newly appointed executive director for the Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB).

“That seems to be a decent way to communicate with and help update landowners we work with,” added Kimberley, who was flying back home recently from state and national soybean industry staff coordination meetings in Alabama. “I plan to hop in a corn planter tomorrow (April 17), so I am anxious to get back.”

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), many American farmers like him are using social media to explain how and why they do certain things in their farming operations, said Cyndie Sirekis, AFBF director of internal communications.

“Facebook posts from the farm, tweets from the tractor seat and blogs from the ‘back forty’ allow members of the non-farming public to ask questions on everything from how today’s food is grown to how it is processed and eventually brought to market,” she explained.

In a 2011 AFBF survey, young farmers and ranchers indicated computers and the internet are vital tools for them, with 92 percent reporting using a computer in their farming operations. The survey also indicated Facebook is used by 76 percent of those who use the internet. The most popular use of the Web was to gather news and agricultural information, with 81 percent turning to it for that specific use.

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service in 2013, a project of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), U.S. farmers use social media “to put a face on how food is grown.”

“Farmers share photos and stories about how their farms are operated, making a personal connection with consumers,” read an NCAT online publication, Social Media Tools for Farm Product Marketing. “Social media also is used to keep farmers engaged with other farmers – sharing ideas about crops, pest control and marketing strategies.”

Kimberley said some farmers use social media to communicate with landowners, investors or other partners and stakeholders, while others use it to communicate messages to consumers or policymakers, using “informational websites, cell phones, texting and emails” as “the most useful and critical for electronic communications at this point.”

Although a growing number of U.S. farmers use social media to interact with consumers, Sirekis said some still have trepidation about answering tough ag-related questions, “which may cause some to shy away from using this valuable communications tool.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way, said Lyndsey Murphy, AFBF digital media specialist, who, along with other social media experts, have teamed up to share time-tested tips with AFBF members.

“Be authentic in telling your story,” she said. “Speak for you and your farm, not the whole of agriculture. If you’re not sure how to answer a question, it’s perfectly okay to say you don’t know but will find the answer.”

Kimberley said, however, farmers are also rightfully concerned about perceptions and misinformation in the general public “due to how the business tends to get attacked from various special interest groups from time to time. I think farmers do use social media though, but the perspectives might be wide-ranging.”

In the end, he said, there really isn’t a “one size fits all” for using social media. “I do think there is a role for social media in farming, and certainly in agriculture and consumer education, with organizations like ours and it will continue to grow.

“The challenge is to maximize and efficiently manage your time – and to focus efforts, it will need to be focused and selective going forward,” he added. “I think most farmers would see it that way, regardless on which end of the electronic communication spectrum they might be.”