By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
Selfies were once the craze, and they still are, but for urbanites. In the context of agriculture, the new hip thing to do is to take a “felfie,” a farmer selfie. A selfie is a photo of oneself taken with a smartphone and uploaded to a social media site, and a felfie is the same thing but with some farmer flare – a photo snapped on the farm, often with livestock, tractors or crops.
Farmers around the world have embraced the new trend, proving that they are tech savvy and like to have fun too. Not only do felfies help provide a glimpse into farm life, but also act as a catalyst to spur conversations between consumers and other farmers.
And to build on the felfie movement, Farms.com asked Canadian and U.S. corn farmers to share their corn felfies on Twitter. After all, it is corn growing season; and who doesn’t like to see beautiful fields of corn? Canadian farmers began sharing their pride on July 1, Canada Day, which has turned into a fun rivalry among growers to see who has the tallest corn stalks. Information is being shared about: when the cornfield was planted, where it is located and what corn variety.
The collection of photos shared by corn growers, predominantly from Ontario, provides a good snapshot of the health of the cornfields across the province. With the cool, wet spring delaying planting, there is a wide range of cornstalk heights featured in the corn felfie photos - from knee-high to chest-high, or in some cases even taller.
As we approach Independence Day, also known as Fourth of July, in the United States, U.S. corn farmers are starting to share their corn felfies or corn selfies. The timing is perfect, as the old farming adage would say - cornfields should be “knee-high” by the Fourth of July. The date served as a measure to tell if the corn crop was doing well. But with the advances made in agriculture, and in particular corn crops, that saying no longer holds true. Typically, corn crops should be about “chest high” by Fourth of July, at least for cornfields in the United States.
Farms.com would like to wish American farmers a Happy Fourth of July! We look forward to seeing your corn felfies/selfies. To participate, tweet a picture of yourself standing in the corn and use the hashtags - #cornfelfie or #cornselfie, and we will include the photo in our famous corn farmer album. Include relevant information such as location or corn variety whenever possible.
U.S. Corn Belt Tour Kicks off Corn Felfies
Moe Agostino, Chief Commodity Strategies at Farms.com Risk Management, shares his corn felfie photo to encourage U.S. farmers to embrace the felfie trend. Agostino is on a twelve-day tour of the U.S. Corn Belt, where he will be visiting a new state each day. You can follow his tour online or follow him on Twitter at @FarmsMarketing. The official hashtag for the event is #CornBelt14.
(Photo: Moe Agostino, Chief Commodity Strategies at Farms.com Risk Management shares his corn felfie during his tour of the U.S. Corn Belt).