ATI Students Get an Insight on Agvocating!

Last night we had a great turn out for our Agvocating event on campus.  We all walked away with a lot of new information on how we can be better advocates to our industry.  Students, faculty, community members, Farm and Dairy, Ohio Country Journal/Ohio Ag Net, and Certified Angus Beef were in attendance.  I would like to start out with a big thank you to all who cam out!

The evening started out with our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Bobby Moser, dean of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences.  Dr. Moser talked to us about The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.  This board was put together to help put in place regulations on better care practices for livestock in the great state of Ohio.  Seeing that activist groups such as HSUS and PETA were starting to place ballot issues in other states in our country, Ohio decided to get ahead of the game and form these standards.  We learned last night that in mid-July the board hopes to have the regulations finalized and in place.  Dr. Moser also had a rough draft copy with him in case anyone wanted to look over the new regulations.  He talked about the history of the board how it came about, as well as why we need this board.

Next to speak was Dr. Leah Dorman D.V.M. from The Ohio Farm Bureau  Dr. Dorman put a large emphasis on the fact that we need to know and understand what activist groups are doing, and that we need to follow them even though it might seem unnatural.  Leah entertained the crowd with great pictures and getting everyone in the room involved.  She also talked to us about how we can get involved in the board through sub committees and different commodity groups.

The last to present last night was Dan Toland from The Ohio Farm Bureau.  Dan being a technology guru, talked to us about how we as young producers can get involved in social media, so we can get our story out there before someone else does.  There was a twitter hash tag set up for the night, and he had all the tweets running throughout his presentation as they were uploaded throughout the event that night.  In the 3 hours spent during the presentations there was a total of 50 tweets sent from the room, and viewed by over 20,500 people during the event.  That's crazy in my opinion and that's real time, that was the point he was trying to get across.  He also explained how many people use social media and that they are our number one target.

Again, I would like to thank all who attended and Farm and Dairy and Ohio Country Journal/Ohio Ag Net for being present as media coverage.  The support is appreciated.  To find out more information follow Farm and Dairy and Ohio Country Journal/Ohio Ag Net on Facebook and upcoming issues for complete coverage on what happened last night.