North Carolina Farm Bureau is using a variety of the most up-to-date communications technology available to help ensure the state’s largest general farm organization serves its members and the general public well as the Voice of Agriculture®.

The organization’s website, www.ncfb.org, receives 10,000 to 11,000 visitors per week, on average. Website visitors may include both members and the general public. The website is always a work in progress, with its pages modified or enhanced almost daily.

Daily Briefing started in 2008 and is another example of how Farm Bureau is striving to keep its members updated on a daily basis. The general agricultural and news update is e-mailed to more than 350 leaders.

Perhaps one of the organization’s most recognizable communications vehicles is the North Carolina Farm Bureau magazine. The publication has been around nearly as long as the organization itself. It is currently mailed to more than 500,000 members six times per year.

NCFB added a new tool during 2009 when it revamped the magazine website, www.ncfbmagazine.org, which is updated along with every print version.

The Achievements & Lifestyles member section of the magazine is published in the print version, but also online.

Another popular print publication is the Leader newsletter, which is published each month and mailed to 3,000 of Farm Bureau’s core leaders and friends of the organization. The Leader covers policy issues and actions of the state organization. It has been published for nine years and is also available electronically on the NCFB website.

Some of Farm Bureau’s latest communications tools include Flickr, YouTube and Facebook. Flickr is where NCFB stores some photos, such as those taken of award winners during the annual meeting each year. YouTube is the online video sharing website. Farm Bureau’s many video stories have been viewed thousands of times. Facebook is an online communications tool and social network. Farm Bureau has a Facebook identity, as do the state Young Farmers and Ranchers and the Collegiate YF&R.

And the latest new communications tool, Markets & Weather, is also found on the Farm Bureau website.