Using Social Media to Educate Youth on The Origins of Their Food 

 

What is the SLO County Ag Education Committee? 

 

The San Luis Obispo Agricultural Education Committee is a local, non-profit organization whose main goal is to educate children and youth on the importance of agriculture and where their food originates from.  The Committee organizes programs like the Great AgVenture to enhance students’ and teachers’ involvement and knowledge of agriculture.  They also believe that “…understanding our food source is the first step in decreasing childhood obesity. By teaching our children where food originates, children can make better food choices.” 

  
 Ag Education Committee Facebook

The Committee’s Facebook page is easy to find when searching for “ag education committee.”  They are somewhat active on Facebook compared to larger organizations and their posts contain relevant information about what the organization is up to.  Under the “About” section of the Home page, their contact information is listed as well as their website.  This is helpful if potential “Likers” want to find out more information.   Most of their photos showcase past events and programs the Committee was a part of which gives the viewer a better representation of the organization itself. 

 

Some Aspects That Could Use Improvement

The Committee’s Facebook page is very well managed, but could use some updating.  For example- under the “Events” tab, only two past events from 2018 are listed.  It would be helpful if they included past events from 2019 and the Virtual Great AgVenture event that took place in the fall of 2020.  Their photo albums could also be updated and organized.  One recommendation is that they create different photo albums that are specific to each different event.  

 

Why Ag Ed Committee Facebook?  

The SLO County Ag Education Committee’s Facebook page is a great example of an organization utilizing new media to promote the importance of agriculture.   

  

Ag Education Committee YouTube

The Committee’s YouTube channel is another platform used to showcase the events and programs they are involved in.  The main goal of this YouTube channel was to create a virtual experience for their main event, The Great AgVenture.   Among many other canceled concerts, county fairs, and in-person events, this was no exception.  Each year the Committee had given local farmers and ranchers, teachers, Cal Poly alumni, and professionals an opportunity to present their crops and/or animals to 4^th and 5^th graders at the Paso Robles Event Center in October.  

With online education and virtual events becoming the norm, the Ag Ed Committee hoped to bring the Great AgVenture program to life 100% virtually.  Right before the start of the 2020 Fall Quarter at Cal Poly, the Committee recruited three interns to film presentations from organizations, farmers, and ranchers around the Central Coast area.  The interns filmed and edited each presentation to be published on the Committee’s YouTube channel.  From there, teachers are able to access the videos to present to their students virtually. 

 

Using YouTube was a great platform to use for this particular event.  The publisher has the choice of making the video private so that viewers have to be following the publisher’s channel, or public, where anyone in the world can access it using the search bar or with a provided link. YouTube is also free, straightforward, and easy to use.  The ability to include links such as websites URL’s on screen, create polls, and upload “stories” are other bonuses.  

 

Using YouTube for Future Events

The purpose of the Committee’s YouTube channel was not to promote their organization, but to use it as a platform for teachers to access the AgVenture presentations.  If the Committee decided to use YouTube in the future in more of a promotional way, I would recommend they organize the videos and add to their “About” description.  In addition to the link they provided to their Facebook, they should also provide links to their website and any other social media they use.  

 

Why YouTube?

I chose the Committee’s YouTube channel because I helped to create it!  I love this organization and what they stand for.  The San Luis Obispo Agricultural Education Committee is taking advantage of new media to educate, inform, and promote the importance of agriculture.  

Emma Swift