Subject: Farmers Feeding the World Ramps Up Social Media Engagement
From: "Farm Journal Media" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:40:15 -0400 (EDT)

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For Immediate Release
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For more information contact:
=br />Charlene Finck, President
Phone: 573.58=.9642
E-mail: [email-masked]

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<=trong>Farmers Feeding the World Ramps Up
Social Media Engagemen=

Philadelphia, P= (October 31, 2011) -- The Farm Journal Foundation's Farmers Feed=ng the World initiative successfully launched an aggressive, long-ter= social media campaign in the past month aimed at exponentially increasing=digital engagement between farmers, consumers, students, educators and pol=cymakers, with more than 50 food-focused events in the next 12 months.
=p>On Sept. 29, the initiative sponsored a virtual event called A Day i= Agriculture hosted by the nation's leading third-party agricultural =ebsite, www.agweb.com, to connect Americans to where their food comes from= More than 130 farmers took time to explain a day in the life of a farmer =ia AgWeb, tweeting 340 times, while 272 consumers and agriculture professi=nals posted 674 messages on Twitter throughout the day. "I am learnin= today," food advocate Leslie Henry of New York City posted on her Tw=tter feed after her questions about egg production were answered by a farm=r.

Three weeks later, Oct. 18-21, Farmers Feeding the W=rld's 2,500-sq.-ft. mobile exhibit took center stage at the National =FA Convention Career Show to celebrate the new $500,000 partnership betwee= the Farm Journal Foundation and FFA, with matching funding from the Howar= G. Buffett Foundation. The partnership makes it possible to give 130-plus=grants to local FFA chapters who start sustainable hunger programs in thei= local communities.

When asked how they would use the grants, provid=ng up to $2,500, to fight hunger, hundreds of students at the convention b=ainstormed hunger projects they could start in their communities. Several =undred teachers and students shared those ideas on the Farmers Feeding=the World Facebook page. Kristi Harkins of Raleigh, N.C., wrote, &quo=;If I had $2,500, I would fight hunger by implementing community gardens a=d education in areas that were less fortunate. By educating these people o= how to grow their own products, we could fight hunger together and teach =arming practices throughout the world."

The social media event =ngagement continues with the 13th Farm Journal Forum on "Securing Glo=al Food Security with Sustainability" in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5-=. Sponsored by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and hosted in partnership =ith Informa Economics, the Farm Journal Forum will enable farmers, consume=s and policymakers to engage in discussion of critical farming and food is=ues which will continue via Twitter and Facebook, the mainstream media and=reports on national television.

"Consumers, farmers, policymake=s and educators have an insatiable desire to begin meaningful conversation= about food," said Anna-Lisa Giannini, Farm Journal Foundation's soci=l media manager. "Not only do we plan to leverage traditional media o=tlets to connect all the stakeholders in food security, but we plan to lev=rage our social media expertise to bring that conversation past the farm g=te."

In 2012, the Farmers Feeding the World mobile exh=bit road show is set to travel for 28 weeks to 12 consumer events and to t=e 35 college campuses of the Big 10, Big 12 and MAC conferences, where stu=ents will learn about the need for food security solutions and have the op=ortunity to attend evening "Food Forums" initiating conversation= between farmers, students, educators and community leaders that will be s=ared widely through all social media platforms.

To follow these and =ther social media events in the coming months, check www.farmersfeedingtheworld.org, follow us on Twitter and visit the Farmers Feeding the World Facebook page.

About Farm Journal Foundation
The Farm Jour=al Foundation is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to sustaining U.S. agri=ulture's ability to serve the vital needs of a growing world population wi=h education and assistance focused on the unique interests of people and o=ganizations aligned with U.S agriculture. The Foundation houses Farm Journ=l's myriad advocacy initiatives such as the Farmers Feeding the World campaign and elements of the Farm Journal Legacy Project.

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Farm Journal Founda=ion, 30 S. 15th Street, Suite 900, Philadelphia, PA 19102

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