Agriculture in the Classroom Alberta Benefits from Syngenta Twitter Contest

This past growing season, Syngenta Canada asked the Twitter community to #FollowTheSeed and learn about the lifecycle of canola and soybeans in Western Canada.

As part of this effort, Syngenta committed to donate one dollar for every Twitter follower received between March 23 and Oct. 31, 2015, to Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) programs in the Prairies. As a result of this initiative, Syngenta was to donate a total of $2,500 to AITC in Alberta, as well as Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A top-up of these funds will see the total amount donated increase to $5,000.

Fictional Twitter characters Cam Canola, an SY4157 canola hybrid, and Sam Soybean, an S007-Y4 soybean variety, shared their development journey from dormant seed to fully mature crop on Twitter over the course of the 2015 growing season. To help engage with their followers about some of the many dimensions of crop production, Cam and Sam tweeted about a variety of factors impacting their growth and development including weather conditions and pest pressure.

“We want to thank everyone who followed Cam Canola and Sam Soybean on Twitter this past growing season. With your help we were able to raise valuable funds for three Agriculture in the Classroom organizations,” said Syngenta marketing communications specialist Teresa Falk. “With an increasingly urban-based population, the work of Agriculture in the Classroom to enhance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of production agriculture is very important.”

“Agriculture in the Classroom was delighted to partner with Syngenta on this unique initiative. Social media is a powerful tool and sharing the story of Cam Canola and Sam Soybean through Twitter was a fun way to engage people in the wonder of the growing season,” said Johanne Ross, executive director of Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba. “We will put the funds raised to good use in support of our student-focused awareness and education work.”

While the campaign is now officially over, people are encouraged to continue following Cam Canola (@CamCanola) and Sam Soybean (@SamSoybean) on Twitter and to join the conversation using the hashtag #FollowTheSeed.