Checkoff Reaches Consumers in Chicagoland

Consumer outreach messaging continues to amplify Illinois farmers’ voices to the most densely populated area of the state. 
 
Illinois Farm Families, a coalition of the five main commodity groups in Illinois and the Illinois Farm Bureau, has great success engaging Chicago consumers on their website, www.watchusgrow.org, and the content created for that platform. 

A recent video showcasing how farmers are adapting to changing weather and heavier rainfall events reached an outstanding 560,912 views on YouTube at the time of this publication. This video is a part of a larger set titled “Innovation Grows Here.” Over half a million views is remarkable considering only one other video in the series went above that milestone. 
 
This data proves consumers care about what farmers do to address sustainability and how they fit into the overall picture to be a part of the solution to climate change. 
 
Partly because of the success of the videos, website traffic to www.watchusgrow.org is up 38 percent this month which can be attributed to the docuseries display ads. However, our audience continues to seek information organically and utilizes the website as a source of information as those metrics reached a high for the year. 
 
Farmers interested in volunteering to tell their story and to be showcased for the Illinois Farm Families project should reach out to our office.