View from the Cab: Tweeting Away

Twitter isn’t just for kids anymore. Members of the farming community are adopting the social media platform as a way to stay updated and communicate with others.

Presidential tweets may get most of the attention these days, but agriculture is well-represented on Twitter. I personally enjoy seeing what others are up to in different parts of the country. I can monitor the harvest in the southern U.S. before it makes its way to the Midwest. Several of the users I follow have been posting photos from the combine, which is a great way to get firsthand knowledge straight from the field.

My Twitter newsfeed not only provides a glimpse into personal farm life, but also keeps me updated on breaking news headlines from around the world which can impact us all – especially farmers. I also find Twitter extremely beneficial in my profession, since I am constantly posting links to stories published on The Central Illinois Farm Network website.

“Hot and humid will be the theme the rest of this week. A few storms possible tonight for areas W of the IL river, otherwise dry through Sat.,” reads a tweet from the National Weather Service.

“We were having fun for a good 30 minutes…but Toby said he was worn out,” farmer Matt said from the cab of his combine as his kindergarten age son rode with him.

“My #yieldhero DKC 64-87 RIB 20 around,” tweeted farmer Steve, referring to a certain type of corn coming out of the field this fall.

If you are already on Twitter or willing to start an account, I invite you to visit www.twitter.com and follow me @kecasson. I try to post photos as we are in the field along with links to ag articles and other useful information. Don’t forget you can also follow “Central Illinois Farm Network” on Facebook for similar information.

Sounds like a few more growers got started with the 2017 corn harvest last week and a few soybean fields were even cut. I haven’t heard much on soybean yields but the early corn yields aren’t sounding too bad. That could change once guys start harvesting the full season stuff, but we shall see. Happy harvesting!

(The View from the Cab blog is sponsored each week by Petersen Chevy-Buick in Fairbury)