Tweeting farmers prepare for first Twitter agri chat

The first organised agriculture Twitter chat is taking place tonight, bringing together farmers from across the UK to discuss the state of drought.

From 8pm tonight, farmers will be tweeting using the hashtags #agrichatuk and #drought to share information, concerns and advice about the low rainfall in parts of the UK. The two-hour Q&A has been organised by west country business consultant Simon Haley, who is a passionate advocate of social media within the industry.

“Having a dedicated two-hour slot to discuss a relevant topic in agriculture can provide a platform for information and knowledge sharing, rather than isolated tweets which might be missed or not developed upon,” he said.

Simon is hoping the event will replicate the success of the popular weekly #agchat event in the USA, and will grow to become a regular fixture on Thursday evenings between 8pm-10pm.

“Hopefully this will become a weekly open rural discussion in the UK, tonight being the first of many,” he said. “I’m aiming for a good response but hopefully tonight will put in place the building blocks for the weeks to come.”

How it works

Tweeters can send questions to Simon (@halo42 on Twitter) on tonight’s topic of drought – concentrating on agriculture and rural industries.

Simon will pick six questions to ask at 20 minute intervals from 8pm tonight.

Anyone can join the open discussion by posting their opinion and comments using the #agrichatuk hashtag.Tweeters can follow the conversation by searching for the #agrichatuk in the Twitter search box

If you’re not on Twitter you can follow the discussion as it happens in the Twitter box below.

About Simon Haley

Simon is taking a part-time postgraduate degree in International Agribusiness and Farm Management at Harper Adams, and plans to write a dissertation about the values, potential and opportunities of social media, in particular Twitter, in agriculture and rural communities.