A year-long experience designed for Illinois farmers and agriculturalists who are eager to become more active sharing their perspective and engaging on social media to promote Illinois agriculture.
Our inaugural Creator Cultivation Series cohort will begin in January 2026 and continue through December 2026. This year-long experience is designed to train farmers and agriculturists how to be a voice for agriculture online and beyond, specifically on social media. This series is designed for anyone eager to become more active sharing their perspective and engaging on social media. These individuals should already be familiar with navigating popular social media platforms and have established profiles on at least one platform.
This series is open to any Illinois Farm Bureau member (farmer or non-farmer), 18 years of age or older, who is passionate about engaging with non-agriculture audiences to share about Illinois agriculture and modern farming practices. The goal of the Creator Cultivation Series is to prepare you to be an expert voice online so that you can build trust in Illinois farmers and their farming practices. You do not have to be a farmer to participate, but you do have to be a current Farm Bureau member with a knowledge of Illinois agriculture and/or modern farming practices. We are excited to create a space full of diverse ideas, backgrounds, and interests.
Throughout the course of series, you will meet six times in person with the same cohort to hear from expert guest speakers about a variety of topics, network together, and brainstorm ideas for your own pages and content. On months we do not meet in person you will receive tasks to complete on your own. The goal of this take-home work is that you will begin to build your own social media pages and by the end of the year, have an established following and rhythm of posting. It is not expected that you are already active on a social media page prior to joining the cohort. We will help you build it along the way!
The Creator Cultivation Series is just that – a series. Each in-person session will build on previous sessions and give you new tools to create content. It is important to attend each in-person session and commit to engaging with your cohort in between sessions.
Before you apply, be sure you can commit to the following meeting dates. Our first in-person session will meet in Bloomington, IL, and further meeting locations will be decided based on program topics, and location of the members of the cohort.
| Date | Topic | Location | Time |
| Wednesday, January 7, 2026 | Building Your Brand | IAA Building, Bloomington, IL | 9:00am – 3:30pm |
| Friday, February 13, 2026 | Know Your Audience and Content | TBD | TBD |
| Friday, March 13, 2026 | All Photo and Video, All the Time | TBD | TBD |
| SPRING BREAK | |||
| Friday, July 17, 2026 | Dive Into the Issues | TBD | |
| Friday, August 14, 2026 | Being the Expert/Dive Into the Issues | TBD | |
| FALL BREAK | |||
| December 11, 2026 | The Finale | IAA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL | TBD |
*locations and dates are subject to change
Applications will be open through December 31st, 2025. We will begin reviewing and notifying applicants starting in in mid-December.
Questions? Please reach out to Gracie Pierson or Jacey Yahne. They will be happy to talk with you more about the Creator Cultivation Series.
Engage 