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Press Release 03 May 2011
In 1862, Abraham Lincoln created the United States Department of Agriculture. In his last annual address to Congress, he said, “The Agricultural Department, under the supervision of its present energetic and faithful head, is rapidly commending itself to the great and vital interest it was created to advance. It is precisely the people's Department, in which they feel more directly concerned than in any other”.
In 1874, the Georgia Department of Agriculture was established as the first state department of agriculture. As Lincoln said, the department of agriculture is truly the people’s department. In many varied ways the department affects the lives of every Georgian, every day.
When Gary Black took over as Commissioner of Agriculture, he stated that the department would once again become the people’s department.
As part of this change in the way the department interacts with its customers, social media programs are becoming an important public relations tool to communicate social, business-related and critical information, as well provide a support system for Georgia’s agricultural companies and products.
Here is a listing of current social media tools in use by today’s Georgia Department of Agriculture:
WEBPAGES
The official webpage is the main repository of information about what’s going on in the department.
http://www.thegamarketbulletin.com
The Farmer's and Consumers Market Bulletin is published every two weeks and provides information and advertisements relating to Georgia agriculture.
https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaDepartmentofAgriculture
This is the main page of the department. News updates and items of interest are posted throughout each day.
https://www.facebook.com/georgia.agriculture
This is the fan page of the department. Fan pages host news and items of interest, and also allow fans of the page to post news, events, links of interest and photos.
https://www.facebook.com/georgia.animal.protection
This is the page of the Animal Protection Steering Committee, which is looking at current operations, activities and investigations of the department’s Animal Protection Service.
(21 steering committees were set up by the Commissioner to solicit input from the citizens of Georgia to look into how different parts of the Department of Agriculture work and how they might be improved. The majority of committee members are private citizens who are not employed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture.)
https://twitter.com/GrownInGeorgia
'Georgia Grown' aims to increase consumer awareness and help drive the demand for locally grown & produced goods in Georgia
https://twitter.com/#!/GDAFoodSafety
This account provides updates on agricultural news, food recalls and any information related to food safety.
http://twitter.com/#!/GaAg_Bulletin
The account for The Farmer's and Consumers Market Bulletin.
All citizens of Georgia, interested individuals and organizations are encouraged to join the discussions on the Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, and to use these social media outlets, as well as the websites, to keep in touch and up-to-date with the Georgia Department of Agriculture.