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We didn’t pay to set up AgChatOZ: CropLife Australia
By Will Ockenden
Monday, 25/04/2011
Plant industry lobby group CropLife Australia denies it’s a founder of weekly Twitter chat forum AgChatOZ.
“In the early stages of CropLife’s engagement in social media, we became aware that there was a genuine need to better connect with the Australian rural community,” the organisation’s annual review reads.
“Acknowledging this and spurred on by an agricultural prodigy called AgChat in the United States, CropLife, together with BlandsLaw and NETDe Web Design established AgChatOZ.”,
Chief executive Matthew Cossey told the ABC CropLife’s participation in the forum is transparent.
“CropLife absolutely looked to encourage it starting up. These things often, without people being prepared to give up time and people preparing particularly now to formally host a discussion to our period every week, if people aren’t prepared to do that they can fall short,” he says.
“With a little bit of support, these things can grow extraordinarily well. That’s why CropLife, through one of our employees, encouraged his participation in it so that it became viable.”
Interview Transcript
MATTHEW COSSEY: CropLife has recognised for a couple of years now the importance of embracing new media technologies. Social media is increasingly becoming a medium by which community can formulate discussions and have open discussions about a range of issues. It’s a great advantage particularly in the rural and agricultural sector because the normal tyrannies of distance that can prevent active participation to rural and farming communities are overcome through internet social media force. We’ve certainly looked to actively involve ourselves in social media and facilitate debate on a whole range of issues.
WILL OCKENDEN: What would you say CropLife Australia gets out of the weekly Twitter chat AgChatOZ?
MATTHEW COSSEY: Sometimes we formally participate in AgChatOZ, particularly if there’s issues relating to the plant science industry, which we’re the peak industry group for. Sometimes we don’t formally participate. We also have given a good commitment to facilitate the AgChatOZ discussion because one of our employees is one of the founders of the AgChatOZ site to make sure it remains a successful and viable forum.
WILL OCKENDEN: It seems the founders and who started the chat is open to debate, at least according to your annual review. It implies that CropLife Australia was one that set up AgChatOZ. Why did you set it up?
MATTHEW COSSEY: It was set up amongst three groups who were made up of and represented by individuals. We contributed by allowing one of our employees who is an enthusiastic social media participant and we saw it as a good way to assist a great debate happening on the internet about a range of agricultural issues. The foundation of these things is about people being active on them. It’s not about ownership of them, the great freedom that the internet provides in these forums of free and open debate.
WILL OCKENDEN: But that’s not really what your annual review says …
MATTHEW COSSEY: It goes back to the CropLife recognising the value of embracing new media technologies and facilitating real debate. We think it’s a great way for us to stay in touch with the views of farming communities. Farmers, and the issues out there that are relevant to our industry. That’s not necessarily on a weekly basis, but there are a range of issues that we’re always fascinated to hear directly from farmers on. I think you see from the debates that go on AgChatOZ, whether it’s between farmers, journalists, and other interested groups, that it’s a great forum to see and hear new ideas and to discuss and debate a range of issues.
WILL OCKENDEN: But do you admit that you were at least part of the founding group?
MATTHEW COSSEY: CropLife absolutely looked to encourage it starting up. These things often, without people being prepared to give up time and people preparing particularly now to formally host a discussion to our period every week, if people aren’t prepared to do that they can fall short. With a little bit of support, these things can grow extraordinarily well. That’s why CropLife, through one of our employees, encouraged his participation in it so that it became viable even within bookkeeping.
WILL OCKENDEN: Is he paid for his time when he’s working on the weekly chat?
MATTHEW COSSEY: No. He now does that in his private capacity. When and if CropLife participates, which we do through our own account and formally involve ourselves we have sometimes depending on the issues, the relevant staff member or policy person participate in the debate as the CropLife representative. They are, but no we don’t remunerate Tom, who is recognised as one of the three individuals who founded it for his time on a weekly basis. We don’t see that. We see a participation in it as an important thing. What we did do is allowed him, when they were trying to start it up, to spend some work time to get it going and up and viable as a great forum for debate for founding communities.
We think that’s an important thing that people can do. We’re an industry directly connected to agriculture and farming. A little bit of assistance to get a forum up and running is a great thing.
WILL OCKENDEN: Did CropLife pay the founders to start this up? You’ve got a web design brisbane expert, a lawyer and one of your own staff members …
MATTHEW COSSEY: No. The only contribution we had and there has been no direct funding we’ve provided. What we did was an organisation was recognise that while it may not be core to one of our employee’s duties, we allowed him to spend some time doing all the things you do to try and get these things up and going. We don’t have any financial relationship with the other founders. Our recognition as a contributor to the foundation of the AgChatOZ hash, I mean it’s only a hash as a discussion forum, is that we recognise that it was a good contribution we could make to facilitating debate on issues of agriculture and farming.
WILL OCKENDEN: On the debate point, what do you make of claims of astroturfing by the plant science industry on Twitter to influence media and farmers for your own agenda?
MATTHEW COSSEY: I think it’s entirely and completely without foundation. Every time a member of staff of CropLife has participated in debate, it’s been declared openly who they are and who they work for. Certainly astroturfing isn’t a matter we engage with. We engage vigorously in the debates that are relevant to our industry. We do it openly. I think those who seek to make those allegations are more trying to cover the fact that they’re coming for criticism for positions they run and they get criticised by farmers.
Instead of recognising the criticism they’re coming in for is because the argument they’re running is without fact in science, they want to then find some other reason that they’re getting criticism. I don’t think that’s the case, it’s the case that they’re trying to run a line that doesn’t sit well with farmers.
WILL OCKENDEN: From about the 25th November to the 19th April there were about 18463 tweets to the AgChatOZ hashtag, you can look at the top 25 tweeters and nearly half are the people who started it, journalists, people connected to public relation companies, CropLife Australia, one of your members or people connected to the bio-technology industry. Why is there such an enormous amount of people in that top 25 that are connected to the periphery of the debate, rather than farmers themselves?
MATTHEW COSSEY: Well I can’t speak to all the other people you referred to. I’m yet to formally participate in one myself. I would think that’s just testament to the naturally considering what AgChatOZ is, is a debate forum. We should be clear, anyone can use the hash AgChatOZ at anytime to connect to the general discussion about agriculture in Australia. There is a formal period where they collectively have a discussion on a range of questions and topics for two hours every Tuesday night.
Even the topics are decided essentially by whoever wants to submit them. I would think that the reason that there’s a concentration of people within the interested area that are participating is, by definition, because it is a debate on areas they’re interested in, they work in, that they have passion on. That doesn’t surprise me that journalists who are specifically interested in agriculture participate in the forum.
WILL OCKENDEN: Do you see why some people have, or could have, a problem with the way its talked about or the impression that it is run by the plant industry – like CropLife – and it is influenced improperly?
MATTHEW COSSEY: No because I think anyone who is criticising that fails to understand how social online media works. It’s the ultimate free democratic debate. Simply because its core interest of their industry and we participate in it I think is unfair because I think a worse position would be our industry, and those involved in it, not participate in it. This was set up because we saw a need for a discussion around issues on agriculture and policy and farming. Issues that we are passionate about at CropLife as are all our members, both from my commercial perspective and from a broader public policy position.
WILL OCKENDEN: You just said then it was set up, are you saying you – as CropLife – did set up AgChatOZ? from brisbane web designers
MATTHEW COSSEY: No. There’s three people who set it up. One of them, who happened to be an employee, came to the organisation and said “This is what’s going on in the U.S. We’re seeing this trend around the rest of the world. This is a great thing and we should participate.” As an organisation, we saw the value of providing support to its establishment last year and accordingly did that.
This is the great thing about online forum, freedom of debate. There’s no owning these things. It’s the new form of democratic activism if you like. It’s open to all and I think a great forum and should be supported.
I think those who have put a position in coming for criticism for the position they’ve put in these forums shouldn’t seek to undermine the value of the forum itself or that of the participation of a whole range of other people. They should see that as a valuable debating forum and use it accordingly.
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