Two young men from farming backgrounds in NSW have taken to the likes of Instagram to showcase all that agriculture in Australia has to offer, proving popular with an ever-growing following for their page “Agriculture Australia”.
Jock Cusack, Galong, and Tom Seyffer, Nowra, began the page “Agriculture Australia” in mid 2015 and it has gone upward from there, now with a following of 25,000 and growing daily, with agriculture lovers encouraged to send in their photos to feature on the page.
Agriculure Australia operator Jock Cusack said he can’t believe how much the page has grown in the past couple of years.
“Both Tom and I wanted to promote Australian country, farming and agriculture, and we both love taking photos,” Mr Cusack said.
”We cover any part of rural life in Australia. The medium of photos we put up are not necessarily the best aesthetically, but have a good story behind them, and the captions we put with them have a humorous, yet informative role,” Mr Seyffer said.
Since their popularity on the photo-sharing social media site Instagram took off, the boys have created a Facebook page, however, they are striving for more, now selling merchandise with the Agriculture Australia name, endorsing their name and their message.
“Over the years we have gotten more heavily involved with Australia's agriculture industry through photos shared on Instagram and Facebook,” Mr Cusack said.
“These photos are then shared through our pages, reaching people locally and even overseas.”
When a photo opportunity presents itself the men take their own photos for their page, the sharing tactic of #aussieag has now allowed like-minded individuals to share their love for the Agriculture Australia page, so more photos are shared then ever before.
Now, with the introduction of merchandise, the pair hopes to do great things for the Agriculture Australia name, not only across the country, but internationally.
"The plan for the future is pretty similar to what they are now – we’ve adopted a more educational role, rather than just putting up a few photos, we want to keep educating people less familiar with the Australian ‘bush life’ or in general where their food comes from and, of course, show other farmers how other people run their operations," Mr Seyffer said.
“We would like the page to capture the Australian, and now foreign, agriculture industry, and what it is like to live and work in and around the culture,” Mr Cusack said.
The power of social media helps agriculture
THE ever-growing nature of social media is sweeping across the globe and agriculture has not been missed, with many photographers and blog writers now taking to the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to show everything the Australian agriculture industry has to offer.
Photos direct from the wheat paddock can be seen within seconds via Snapchat, photos can be edited and enhanced on Instagram and messages can be shared on Facebook.
Australian agriculture, once hampered by the tyranny of distance, is blossoming on social media and like-minded individuals are patching in across the globe.
Agriculture Australia Instagram page operators Jock Cusack and Tom Seyffer said their page grew rapidly once they began sharing their love for agriculture with the rest of the social media world.
“Our page started to grow slowly but now we have 25,000 people watching it every day,” Mr Cusack said.
They page now averages about 1500 to 2000 likes per image and a number of comments.
Such is their popularity, people are now using the social media sharing tactic of a hashtag to share their images to the boys, in return growing their own social media sites.
Other agricultural enthusiasts have taken to social media.
Edwina Roberston Photography grew her small photography business into several different sites such as Rural Tribe, which captures families in agriculture, and Wander Of The West which has now seen her venture across Australia capturing moments in lives on station and farms.
An enormous following watches her movements around the country and the positive messages she is sending about Australian agriculture.