Tell people stories
It was simple. It was elegant. It was perfect.
‘Feeders and Eaters’
It rolled so easily off her tongue, every ag journalist in the room grabbed a pen so not to forget the brilliant way of describing what, before, has always been described as “rural versus urban.”
Kallee Buchanan of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation spoke to a group of 30 current ag communications students and alumni of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences during its Homecoming Huddle in September.
We all eat.
It’s not geography that separates us, Kallee says. It’s a gap in understanding, and communicators know all about closing information gaps. That’s our day job. The sooner we get out of an urban vs rural mindset, the sooner we begin building trust between those who feed and those who eat.
So why don’t people read our stories?
“News avoidance is not because they don’t like news; they don’t like how news is being done.”— Kallee Buchanan
“We can’t be boring, and so often, we are boring.” Good writing leads the audience through the story by placing something they know alongside something they don’t know, elevating their knowledge step by step.
“A good story, told well, will be read.” — Kallee Buchanan
“We need to create stories that matter,” or as Extension’s Todd Gleason says, stories with a “driveway moment” — a story so good, someone waits in their car in the driveway to hear the ending. Those driveway moments, says Kallee, are always human stories.
“We are telling people stories to people.”
“We are all neighbors, and we must try to understand each other, even when it’s difficult,” Kallee says. “The world’s biggest problems will be solved by agriculture.”
James Evans (center) was honored at the 2024 University of Illinois ACES Agricultural Communications Huddle on Sept. 13. in Urbana. Evans began teaching at Illinois in 1962. His global influence on the ag communications industry has led to the establishment of the Dr. James F. Evans Global Center for Food and Agricultural Communications at Illinois. He is pictured with Ava Splear, president of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow Illinois Chapter, and Owen Roberts, director of the agricultural communications program at Illinois. © Judy Mae Bingman
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