That’s honestly a really good question.

My friend Annaliese (@modfarmchick on Instagram — if you don’t follow her, make sure you go find her right now!) asked me this question the other day and it prompted a lot of reflection in my head. I sat there for a while thinking, “dang — I’ve been sharing for quite some time.. I don’t even remember how it started.” The truth is, I do remember.. I just had to shake the memory loose ;)

I don’t know if I’ve ever shared how I actually started advocating for agriculture online. I just feel like I’ve been doing it for a long time, it’s part of who I am at this point. My brain works in a weird way where I always see challenging situations and #ShitThatHitsTheFan as a way to share the real story of agriculture.

So.. here it is.

I started sharing my fitness journey online in 2018 during my last year of college at South Dakota State University. {hello… That Fit Agvocate right?!} I actually held myself accountable back then by sharing daily. My fitness journey wasn’t always consistent, but publicly sharing made me show up and was the secret sauce I needed. In between the sweaty selfies and food, I also started sharing a little bit more of my personal life. It’s no secret that I love cattle, literally no secret. You know that by now if you’re reading my blog posts ;)

So when I shared a little bit about calving season that spring on weekends when I was home from college, I got questions. Somehow, before the days of reels and the lovely algorithm — my profile was being shown to people that I didn’t know. I found myself really enjoying those short conversations with those who didn’t grow up in the industry and the connections with other cow loving individuals. I continued sharing from those first few posts.

I always laughed at the questions I got when I showed cattle at the Minnesota state fair, but that’s really what a lot of our population is like, they don’t understand what we do and too often — they assume things based on things that they see. All it takes is one bad story to “blow up” and that’s what they think. It’s actually a really big issue now with social media and apps like TikTok. Trust me, I love me some TikTok.. but it’s scary how fast a negative video can blow up and be taken out of context.

A few of the questions/topics that started it all back then and now

• Chocolate milk doesn’t come from brown cows.

• A steer can’t have a calf.

• We don’t get milk from beef cattle.

• Cattle get out and climb manure piles, they don’t live there.

• Feedlots aren’t 'the devil, they’re actually efficient.

I could go on and on, but that’s what I battle on the daily.

Those simple ‘stupid' questions’ I got when I was a sixth grader honestly started a little bit of a burning passion that I didn’t realize was a burning passion back then. There is nothing that works me up more nowadays than false statements about agriculture.

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It’s so hard to be in this place where we absolutely love what we get to do every single day — and yet we’re blamed, attacked and nearly always shown in a negative light. Loving what we do doesn’t mean it will come without challenges, but I truly believe we get more than our fair share when it comes to the media. We can handle cattle getting out, equipment breaking down and challenges on the farm/ranch — but having the media backing us against a wall is a whole new devil in the past few years. Mental health in agriculture is a mess and we don’t need to lose more than we already have.

So THAT is why I’m advocating for agriculture now more than ever.

Influencers have a voice on apps like TikTok and Instagram. They’re promoting a lot of BS information that makes our job harder.

I’m taking a stance and using my voice to combat the crap that they’re saying about what we do and the food supply. There’s so much more to come, but for now — I just wanted to thank you for being here in my little online space. Every single time you comment, like or share my content — the more exposure we get into people outside of the direct agriculture world. You are a huge piece to what I do — so thank you.

xo, Andrea

PS — if you want to spread the message in another way, check out my apparel with some powerful statements supporting agriculture.