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Posted By Katie On March 31, 2011 13 Comments

What is an #Agnerd & how can you be one? Or maybe you are?

Filed Under: America's Farm Table, Family Values Tagged With: agriculture, family, family farm, where my food comes from 13 Comments

I worked so hard as a late elementary school student and then as a teenager to be “cool”. 
I wasn’t always successful at my attempt to be “cool” but I certainly didn’t know or think I was a nerd.

 Now as a professional, mom of three, wife in my 30’s, I have been labeled an “#agnerd” on Twitter. (The pound sign with a word after it, is called a hash tag on Twitter.)

“Nerd” was not a term I ever wanted associated with my name twenty years ago. Because I thought I was cool.

Funny how things change because I now relish in being an “agnerd”. 

While I don’t talk about it often on this blog, when I am not home on the prairie, I am traveling, working in marketing communications with agribusiness, food and farming companies and coalitions like the Know A California Farmer outreach effort.

Add in the facts I am immersed in agriculture on the North Dakota prairie with my husband’s family business being supported by farmers and ranchers daily and my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins farming, agriculture is not just my job. It’s a part of the daily fabric of my life.

Aside from being a mom, where my food comes from, how it is raised, who is raising it, farming practices, all forms of food production and processing, food products and how they are marketed and communicated from farm to plate are my passions. Then I immersed myself into digital technology and started using more social media tools a few years ago. Social media became a passion…or an healthy addiction my husband might say.

Those passions along with my work have led me to meeting fellow farmers as well as those working in agribusiness and food industries.

Each of us have a shared passion for agriculture.
And we all met through social media outlets. Sharing our stories through social media is another common passion.

By planes (no trains) and automobiles, I was able to meet up with a group of these social media friends last night in Sacramento. We have gotten to know one another by sharing short bits together on Twitter, reading blogs, joining common efforts, associations, coalitions and participating in online conversations like #agchat on Twitter.

But last night we set aside social media…other than a few “tweets” and photo sharing.
We went around the table and told “in real life” stories. It was tremendously fun, inspiring and empowering to hear each of person share.

We come from non-ag backgrounds and backgrounds of dairy and hog farms, beef ranches, grain farms, almonds and walnut “ranches” (that’s a California term). I always thought ranches were for animals. But Brent the “Aamond” (also a California thing…leaving out the “l” in almond) calls himself a farmer…with “aamond ranches”. Yes I learn technicalities from these agnerds.

We each have unique backgrounds that have brought us to our careers and passions in life. City kids, country kids, farm kids. Some of us are moms and dads. Some are married and others are single. We are different.

Despite our differences in circumstances and geographies what I also learned is the common passion and intense interest we have in farming, food and empowering others to share their stories and connecting those stories to you, consumers…anyone who buys food and eats.

Together we all are proudly #agnerds, advocating for agriculture, helping farmers and ranchers stories be told, sharing with most any group to understand where your food comes from and using most any outlet available to us.

We will always use traditional forms of communicating, speaking to one on one, to groups and associations but the greatest advantage and growth for advocating for agriculture is through technology.

Agnerds embrace technology and use it to tell our stories. It brings out the #agnerd in each of us.

And while I was thought it wasn’t “cool” to be a “nerd”, today there isn’t anything I embrace more other than being a mother than being an advocate for agriculture, connecting that passion into my professional work and personal role as a mom of three children.

I am an #agnerd mom. I fully admit, it’s cool to be a nerd.

If you love farmers, agriculture…and the abundant choices of food you have to eat, you can be an advocate just like these people I have met. Learn, inquiry, share. You might find yourself as an #agnerd. It’s not an exclusive group. It’s an inclusive growing group of individuals who use technology to share about farming and food. It all starts with engaging with others, being empowered to tell your story while learning and listening to others’ stories.

What’s your #agnerd question you would like to ask a farmer?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ruralgoneurban says

    March 31, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    I love this! You’re are amazing – and I want to be you when I grow up 🙂 haha – only partially kidding!

    Reply
  2. crystal.cattle says

    March 31, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Definitely proud of the #agnerd tag. I am 26 and asked for books for my birthday. I love that #agnerd is the new cool.

    p.s. I love the Springtime header. Please bring some of that weather back with you

    http://www.cdycattle.blogspot.com

    Reply
  3. Colleen Cecil says

    March 31, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Thanks for making being a “nerd” cool again.

    Reply
  4. Mike Haley says

    March 31, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    I am jealous I didnt get to meet in Sacramento with all the other #agnerds!

    Reply
  5. texwisgirl says

    March 31, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    no better reason to be a nerd, i’d say…

    Reply
  6. Kelly says

    March 31, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    I’m so jealous. I wish I could have been there. It seems like it was a blast. Glad you enjoyed it, and great post, Katie!

    Reply
  7. teresafalk says

    March 31, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    Great post, Katie! I’m definitely an #agnerd as well! I agree – technology is here to stay and we have to use it to connect people to their food. I enjoy reading your blog. Keep it up.

    Reply
  8. Sarah says

    March 31, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    love this post! looks like their are some interesting coversations going on at that table!

    http://www.thisfarmfamilyslife.blogspot.com

    Reply
  9. The Wife of a Dairyman says

    March 31, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    Yes, my friend……you are most definitely an #agnerd 🙂 ….in a good way. I think it’s great the way you stay connected with everyone you’ve meet through social media and being able to establish real life relationships through the process!
    What a fun night you all had:)

    Reply
  10. Neil says

    March 31, 2011 at 10:01 pm

    Forget #agnerds. IS THAT HUNTER IN THE SECOND PHOTO!?!

    Reply
  11. Farmchick says

    April 1, 2011 at 12:31 am

    A great post and what a fantastic term. So great that you are involved in your community/family/farm life as you are!

    Reply
  12. Kathy says

    April 1, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Wear the tag proudly! You’re doing great things.

    Reply
  13. Elizabeth says

    April 4, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    Great post! It’s so important that we are able to take pride in who we are and the things we believe in. You are a great example of this!

    Reply

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I am a mom of three kids and a wife to Nathan. Together we live on the North Dakota prairie, 97 miles from a Starbuck's. I share about family, food, farming and the prairie that I love. I used to commute 98 miles one-way to work but it required too much coffee. So now I am home, consulting, speaking, writing and primarily, juggling family life.
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