Monday's agriculture article: Guest post by Ryan Goodman

*Every Monday, blog author Kathy Swift share an agricultural website or article of interest with readers.  Today is a guest post written by Ryan Goodman (@AR_ranchhand)*

Here we go, it’s that time of year where we all look back on the year that has passed and look at what is to come. It has been a busy year for me. One highlight of my year is becoming more active in social media and online communications for Agriculture. Alongside staying active on Facebook and Twitter, I started a new blog, Agriculture Proud, and if you had told me the site would have over 4,000 followers on a Facebook group after only seven months, I would have laughed. The result, I have realized the power of social media in Agriculture.

Since Kathy asked me to share my favorite Ag websites, I have looked back and came up with my Top Five list, in no particular order.

·         AgChat Foundation – This organization and its accompanying weekly chat on Twitter has opened many doors for me. After joining the conversation on Tuesday nights, I have made connections with farmers, ranchers, Agriculturalists, and consumers across the States and in several different countries.

·         Beef Magazine – This website and associated e-newsletters keeps me up-to-date on current industry news, headlines, and activity. The BEEF Daily blog always offers an interesting perspective and comment on Beef and Food related topics.

·         Ag- A Colorful Adventure – Janice may love cotton, and social media may be part of her job description, but this lady always knows how to bring something new to the table. I often catch myself laughing out loud at some of her posts, but she often has something new to teach me in her posts about cotton, social media, or just loving agriculture in general.

·         Journal of Animal Science – If this makes me an Ag Nerd, so be it. I often catch myself looking for facts, figures, and ideas in the articles of this Journal. True, it is animal scientists writing scientific articles on an academic level, but I find the results useful and interesting. And it never hurts to be up-to-date on the latest ideas in the science of animal production.

·         @AgBlogFeed and #AgBlog – This feed and tag have probably become my favorite follows on Twitter. A number of people promote their Agriculture related blog posts with this tag and I have found a great number of new blogs and contacts with this feed.

Thanks Kathy for allowing me to contribute to your blog, and for your recent contribution to my Ag-Thankful post series. (I would add that series of guest posts to my list of favorites, but I do not think that would be allowed.) There are so many more great sites I left out, but I think this gives a decent over-view of my favorites.