Women in Ag get social

Farm women met first on the Web

The idea of "Tweetups," the face-to-face meetings of Twitter users, has gotten a lot of media attention in this new era of social networking.

What I realized this week, though, is that farm women probably can be credited with the original social meet-ups based on Internet relationships.

About a decade ago, a couple dozen farm women from all over the country, all of whom met on the Women in Ag discussion group, decided to get together. Successful Farming and Agriculture.com hosted the event at Living History Farms in West Des Moines.

I remember what a good feeling everybody seemed to get from matching faces with Web site usernames and spending a good part of the day together. The face-to-face meeting seemed to confirm for people that they had a lot in common, maybe even more than with their next-door neighbors. Their new neighbors lived in the next state or another time zone.

Last weekend, a few members of the same forum gathered at a restaurant, the Iowa Machine Shed, in Davenport, Iowa. The meet-up must have grown out of that same basic impulse to put a face to a name.

The idea cropped up on the forum back in January, says Sue Bertelsen, an Illinois farmer. There was not a lot of structure proposed for the session--just a time to talk.

“We simply talked about our husbands, kids, our jobs. We brought pictures of our families, pets, farms and houses,” Sue said.

“Sundae,” who drove 5 1/2 hours to attend, writes:

round trip...670 miles
gas & lunch... $95
meeting my friends face to face...priceless!"

We shouldn’t be surprised that farm women are social media innovators, says Rachel Happe, a Boston-based social media consultant. “Farming communities were the original social networks, as everyone needed each other,” she says. “My grandmother was one of the hubs.”

The Machine Shed type meet-up won't be the last, Women in Ag members say. Looks like there are plans for another gathering this spring or summer.

It’s interesting to see that these new farming communities can be based on a digital connection and still ring so true. “It's great to visit with true friends who know your life style and your problems and still be comfortable with it,” said Linda/IL.