Although we don’t seem to think about it much in America, food is emerging as one of the dominant issues facing our world. Simply put, global population is growing quickly, much faster than most people realize. All those new mouths are going to eat a tremendous amount. While it’s nice to say that everyone should eat locally, the reality of global population is quite different.

Shall we close down certain cities in America’s arid Southwest, for example, because you can’t produce much food in the desert? What about the Middle East, Africa, even parts of Australia? Feeding “us” is becoming an ever-more complicated matter. Food is going to have to move around the world. Technology is going to have to help us produce it efficiently while caring for the environment. Some don’t like to hear it, but meeting global food needs is an immensely complicated proposition. America’s farmers are acutely aware of that. They are also often misunderstood.

You see, only about 1.5 percent of the population is involved in producing the food that the rest of us (and a lot of the world) eat. As a result, the common stereotype many hold of someone’s grandpa’s grandpa on Old McDonald’s Farm is grossly out of date. The AgChat Foundation is on a mission to update quaint but outdated perceptions of farmers using a very new tool, social media.

“The goal of the AgChat Foundation is simple: help farmers and ranchers use social media to tell their stories to the 98.5 percent of the population not engaged in the production of food, feed, fuel and fiber.”

It’s fitting that this group should launch in the spring, an optimistic time when thoughts turn to growth and new beginnings. America’s farmers are producing more food more efficiently than at any time in the history of the world. They care deeply about their chosen profession and about the environment. The AgChat Foundation will give more of them an opportunity to tell their stories.