“Agvocacy”

“Agvocacy”, a new word that simply means farmers and ranchers in the agriculture business are advocating for their own industry. Rather than allowing someone else to paint a picture of whether a farmer takes the proper care in producing grain, or ranchers in raising their cattle, they are stepping into the world of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It is allowing them to show the steps that are being taken to produce quality, healthy food for tables around the world.

One such “Agvocate”, Chris Chinn, a hog producer in Missouri decided to  allows tubers the opportunity to see inside a quality hog farm. She and her family made a five-minute video they called “The Truth about Modern Pork Production”. It has become one of the most popular farmer videos on the site with more than 30,000 views since Chinn uploaded it two years ago. She encourages other farmers and ranchers to join her, but not to assume the road to farm stardom will be without its roadblocks.

Six months ago she found her video had been tagged as inappropriate for younger audiences, which resulted in the number of viewings to drop from the thousands to the hundreds. YouTube explained that they allow the audience to determine which videos should be tagged as inappropriate and Chinn assumed the activists were behind it.

After six months. FarmBureauNews decided to make some inquiries of its own about the age-restriction. Soon after ,Chinn found he video once again with a “G” rating. What touched the sensibilities of the viewers? Was it her naked pigs? Was it the thought of raising the pigs for feed? Was it The Truth about Modern Pork Production?”


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