It has happened to every farmer. Go to a meeting at the local hall and it soon becomes apparent it’s dull, dull, dull.
But how to push back your wooden chair, escape across the squeaky hardwood floor and out the door without attracting attention?
Leduc, Alta., cattle farmer Gary Hackney has found the answer. Go to a meeting on the internet.
“If I find it’s relevant I can stay and partake or leave and do something else. On the internet it’s polite to leave at anytime. When you’re at a meeting you can’t just get up anytime without everyone noticing.”
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Hackney is one of the many farmers who have discovered the meeting rooms and coffee shop on the new Agri-ville website.
On Wednesday nights, Hackney pulls up his chair, grabs his coffee, turns on his computer and chats away with other farmers the same way he would visit at the local coffee shop. The only difference is he doesn’t leave home.
“I get current information from the comfort of my own home.”
Through the chat group he finds information quickly.
“When a producer says ‘I did this, and got these results’ that’s pretty credible stuff,” said Hackney.
About a dozen farmers and specialists join in the regularly scheduled Wednesday night coffee shop sessions, said Jeff Millang, an Alberta Agriculture beef specialist who is involved in the development of the site.
Like any coffee shop chat, the sessions can be ordinary or informative.
“It’s hit or miss. Some of them are ordinary and others are chock full of neat and new ideas,” said Millang.
“It’s pretty much like any coffee shop conversation.”
Since Agri-ville was introduced three months ago, the site has averaged 2,200 hits a day for a total of almost 200,000, said project manager Delin Sheehan-Millang.
Agri-ville was developed by a group of consultants under the federal/provincial Farm Business Management Program, an umbrella organization for farm management programs.
Because of the popularity of producer groups, the business program wanted to take the groups a step further and offer producer-type groups over the internet.
The most popular stopping point in Agri-ville is the coffee shop, said Sheehan-Millang.
Excitement builds
As Agri-ville mayor, she said it has been interesting to watch some of the electronic personalities evolve since the coffee shop was opened.
“Some of the people barely said boo and now they’re right in there.”
It’s Sheehan-Millang’s job to welcome people to the coffee shop, encourage conversation and, like any mayor, complaints are directed to her.
There’s also an alderman and public works department in Agri-ville to deal with other problems in the virtual agriculture community.
“We want to make it a friendly, positive experience that will encourage producers to continue to come back,” she said.
Some producers have told Sheehan-Millang they don’t feel comfortable jumping in because of their poor typing skills or shyness at offering their opinions.
“It’s my job as mayor to whisper back to say ‘You’re doing fine, you’re not alone.’ “
Whispering is conversation directed at one person that only they can read.
Sheehan-Millang said they hope, with time, to add courses from Agri-ville’s school house or private meeting rooms.
In the meantime they want to increase the number of producers willing to take part in the chat groups. With more producers on-line, farmers may be able to select a chat session topic that’s of interest to them.
