Virtual Farm Trips are brought to classrooms and other audiences free of charge courtesy of our forward-thinking agricultural partners. These organizations provide the farmers, special guests, moderators and funding able to bring agriculture to life through the Virtual Farm Trips platform.
“Through the Ohio Pork Council’s partnership with Shift•ology’s Virtual Farm Trip program, our organization has been able to provide students with real-life farm experiences from the comfort of their classroom for many years. Ohio’s pig farmers are passionate about sharing their story through consumer education – and the Virtual Farm Trip program allows them to do so more effectively than ever before. The Virtual Farm Trip program is an invaluable tool for both the Ohio Pork Council and Ohio’s pig farmers.”
“The Ohio Soybean Council has worked with Shift•ology for the last two years on a virtual field trip program that has delivered excellent results. The results have exceeded expectations and Dan Toland, who manages the program for Shift•ology, is very professional and executes our program efficiently and effectively.”
“Working with Shift-ology has been a key factor in building American Dairy Association North East’s Virtual Farm Tour program. Our organization is always striving to find new ways to reach consumers with the dairy farming message. The growth and success of the Virtual Farm Tour program has allowed us to do this very effectively in schools over the last year. We are excited to continue to partner with Shift-ology and grow our Virtual Farm Tour Program.”
“THANK YOU for helping us make our farm tour go off without a hitch. Truly, we couldn’t be happier about how it all went. We have had incredible feedback already from teachers and the playbacks on the tours have been much higher than I could have ever expected. Everything went so seamlessly and we have you to thank for that. Thank you for being so easy to work with. It’s always a pleasure to work with your team, and I hope to work with you again in the future!”
“Our team at EducationProjects.org has been working with Shift•ology for several years to provide great virtual field trips for Ohio’s students and teachers. Dan Toland makes the process easy — preparing the teachers with technology training, coaching industry folks, finding great videos, b-roll and supporting photography and generally making the process for both industry and educators enjoyable. We love working with them!”
“With our small staff size at American Dairy Association Indiana, Shift•ology has been a game-changer. We would not be able to execute this program without the technical support and expertise of Dan and his team. We appreciate Shift•ology’s flexibility to try something new with each tour to continuously improve the experience for students and partners. Connecting people with where their food comes from is essential to building trust, and Virtual Farm Tours make that a possibility for many who wouldn’t have one otherwise.”
“We began a partnership with Shift•ology to bring the farm to classrooms with minimal logistics required. We found great value in executing virtual trips. Shift•ology’s expertise in the technology and flow of the trips was invaluable. We look forward to continue to find ways to utilize their expertise and innovative tools within our outreach efforts.”
“The Virtual Farm Trip program has enabled the Ohio Beef Council to use its resources cost-effectively to provide a much larger number of students with an on-farm experience than would have been possible through other programs. And Shift-ology’s expertise with the technology and educational content makes the program easy to implement.“
“With the expertise of Shift•ology, we have been able to bring the farm to the classroom. This has allowed us to showcase our dairy farmers and their stories to over 10,000 students. Teachers comment on how easy it is to join the tour, how helpful Dan Toland is if there is a question or problem, and enjoy asking questions during the live tour. For our staff, knowing Dan is behind the scenes at every tour is very comforting as we cannot control the technology or the weather. He was there every step of the way and patiently answered all of our questions. We look forward to continuing to work with Shift•ology on our future virtual farm tours.”
Hosting Virtual Farm Trips and Becoming a Partner
Today's communication tools change the way we expect to connect, share and learn. Increased access and transparency is now expected from those who grow and sell the food we consume. Virtual Farm Trips offer live streaming video and interaction directly with farmers, rolled into a memorable, lasting and unrestricted experience that builds credibility with your audiences.
Budgets, permission and safety and security concerns are making traditional field trips a rarity these days. However, a Virtual Farm Trip brings the farm to your audience without these concerns at a lower cost to you...as low as just a few dollars per person reached (or less in many cases)!
Virtual Farm Trips also put your farmers and organization front and center as a trusted resource and thought leader for your audiences when it comes to getting real, authentic information about agriculture.
The benefits of partnering to host trips through Virtual Farm Trips are many. Below are just some of the benefits that you'll gain through our program:
- A proven framework and customizable program with near unanimous praise that eliminates start-up hurdles and helps you hit the ground running.
- Technological and logistical support from experts with over a decade of live digital and virtual experience in agricultural advocacy to help you effectively connect with your audience.
- Provide unprecedented access to farms and food producers in real-time for your key audiences.
- Accommodate thousands of connections at a time to a farm with no security or safety concerns.
- A low-cost opportunity to provide high-impact experiences, for merely dollars (or less) per person reached.
- Increased shelf-life and online search visibility through recorded Virtual Farm Trips posted to your online assets.
- An easy-to-implement agriculture in the classroom activity that is repeatable and fresh that keeps teaches coming back for more.
- Provide a platform for farmers or employees that have been through leadership/spokesperson training to use their learned skills to advocate for agriculture.
- Increase reach, effectiveness and transparency with consumers by openly connecting with a curious public.
- Create lasting and memorable impressions with today's and tomorrow's consumers by positioning yourself as a trusted thought leader and resource for agriculture.
We provide our partners a customizable framework, along with support needed to get a successful Virtual Farm Trips program off the ground for their organizations. This includes, but is not limited to:
- A planning and strategy process includes work plans allowing for complete customization to fit your needs. We'll determine the scope of your trips to best fit your desired audiences and put together a promotional plan with customized materials and methods to help you reach them.
- A constantly-reviewed and evolving technology checklist helps make sure you have all the proper hardware and software required to conduct trips.
- We'll train and work with your staff and farmers involved in trips to ensure they have a solid grasp of the program, agenda/flow of programs, and their roles.
- We handle ALL communication with those registering for your trips, provide tutorials and individualized personal assistance to prepare them (and their technology) for their trips.
- Live support and production to ensure all runs smoothly so you can focus on connecting with your audience.
- Recording and minimal editing of each trip, which is then posted to your online assets for residual viewing.
- Pre- and post-event evaluations with participants help inform final reporting at the end of your program to gauge success and find areas for improvement.
- Hosts and Farmers: We do not currently provide hosting/moderating services or farmers for your program.
- Reliable Connectivity: Farm locations should have solid 4G connectivity and/or reliable high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity if hosting within barns.
- On-Farm Setup: We provide technology recommendations and will connect with partners for on-farm technology tests, but we do not travel to or provide on-farm setup and testing.
- Availability: Partners should be prepared to be involved in planning and strategy sessions, as well as trainings.
- Promotional Channels for Desired Audiences: It is recommended that partners also have a promotional outlet/channel to get the word out about their trips. However, we can provide assistance with this if necessary.
Throughout the years we have been conducting Virtual Farm Trips, there have been zero incidents where any of these concerns have materialized.
- Mechanisms are in place to verify and communicate with each registrant prior to a Virtual Farm Trip.
- The link to your Virtual Farm Trip is private, and is not shared with those who have not completed the required registration form and processes associated with each trip.
- While we cannot fully guarantee somebody won't "slip through the cracks," mechanisms are in place to allow us to disconnect any unauthorized or ill-behaved participants in a Virtual Farm Trip.
Please click here to complete our contact form or to contact our Virtual Farm Trips manager directly.
We will schedule a time to talk with you to learn more about your interest and provide recommendations and a proposal for a potential Virtual Farm Trip package.
Once in contract, a draft work plan is created and kickoff meeting is held to get started on your program! Virtual Farm Trips may be held as quickly as two months after an agreement is in place.
