Ag Media Jamboree


The 13th annual Ag Media Summit, “Jazz It Up!” occurred July 23-27 in New Orleans. It’s the principal congregation of crop and livestock media professionals in the U.S., comprising writers, editors, photographers, publishers and ag-communicator specialists.

These professionals convene to improve their gathering, reporting and dissemination methods for a more efficient, engaging news process on behalf of America’s farm and food industries.

The agriculture media industry is inadequately represented at news outlets throughout America, given that farmers and ranchers are depended upon to provide safe, affordable, abundant food for the country and assist with food initiatives on a global scale.

Attendants Included:
  • Red Barn Media Group
  • Two Rivers Marketing
  • Brandwidth Solutions LLC
  • Cultivate Agency
  • Farm Journal Media
  • Ketchum
  • ZimmComm New Media
Educational sessions occur throughout the five-day event to provide networking opportunities and best-practices sharing.

Sessions Included:
  • “From shoot to finish: Understanding Lightroom,” (Adobe Lightroom is a tool for digital photographers)
  • “Strategic Tweeting”
  • “Think like a reader”
  • “Growing big ears with social media”
  • “Ethics in the trenches: Case studies and solutions”
  • Newsmakers Panel: Ag transportation
To view images of the summit, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimmcomm/sets/72157627141641949/.

The agriculture media sector is increasingly important though it continues to decrease in size. Social-media channels are undoubtedly influencing and safekeeping the dissemination of information about an industry so vital to our country.

To promote itself, the summit used the hashtag #AgMS at Twitter, created a Facebook page, a blog and a LinkedIn account.

One great example of recent ag-media Twitter engagement results from Bayer CropScience. Historic flooding throughout much of the Midwest, South and Southeast prompted the company to raise money for American Red Cross relief efforts. For each tweet including the hashtag #BCSFloodRelief the company made a $5 donation.

As years evolve, the landscape of ag-media will continue to transition and the Ag Media Summit will exist as a necessary tool to sustain and develop the industry.

How do you receive your ag-industry news? Does your local news source have an ag reporter/ag section?


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