It seems as though the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food
and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is increasingly interested in understanding the
social media use of stakeholders in the agriculture and rural sector; a
curiosity that is shared by the researchers of the ongoing study presented on
this blog. OMAFRA recently conducted an online survey, created by a leading
Canadian marketing research corporation Ipsos Reid, regarding the web browsing
and social media usages and attitudes of various actors in the agriculture
sector. The online survey, hosted on the OMAFRA website between February 6 and
March 5, 2012, was completed by a total of 439 individuals, many of whom
identified as farmers, farm employees, agri-students, agri-business personnel,
and members of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
The survey reveals an increasing trend of social media use
as a communication strategy by the agri-food and rural development
professionals in Ontario .
84% of the participants reported using
social media in the past year and 73% of the participants found the social
networking sites as important to their work. Twitter was the most commonly used
social media application for agriculture-related purposes, such as the sharing and
capturing of knowledge and information, professional networking and marketing.
Following Twitter was YouTube, blogs, and agriculture-specific online social
networks. Facebook was one of the least-used applications for
agriculture-related purposes, but the most used for personal networking amongst
the survey respondents. There is a potential scope for using these tools for business
and entrepreneurship development as indicated by 87% of social media users that
they would more likely to buy/use specific agri-product/service after a
positive review on social media.
The OMAFRA-supported survey also shed light on gaps in the
use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the agriculture
sector. For instance, 12 percent of respondents identified the lack of
agriculture-specific “apps” as a significant drawback to their technology-use.
The most significant drawback identified by the participants was the lack of
social media use by governmental bodies, including the agriculture sector. With
89 percent of survey respondents in compliance, the report suggests that OMAFRA
and service agencies should develop a policy to adopt ‘social media’ as a
communication strategy.
The survey provides first-hand information about existing
social media practices and depicts a very positive interest about social media
by agri-food stakeholders. However, the study has not touched upon in-depth understanding
of social media practices such as specific goals, benefits and challenges for
networking, relationship building and learning by multiple stakeholders. The findings urge to conduct in-depth
analysis on these issues; a task that the ongoing study on agricultural
innovation systems and social media applications by Dr. Chowdhury and Dr.
Hambly Odame undertakes.
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