At first glance, web technology and traditional organic food cultivation may seem to represent opposite ends of the spectrum. However, both fields have a lot in common and both have something to learn from the other.

Notwithstanding the wave of current publicity, the organic movement is as old as the early days of the modern 20th computer technology movement. In 1940, Rodale, a Pennsylvania agriculturalist coined the term to describe a superior practice of farming which was free of pesticides. And organic food innovations date back at least to this point.

There are at least tens of thousands of certified organic farmers in the US. Last year alone, US consumer spent billions of dollars on organic fruit, vegetables and meat. And against this backdrop, is an entire industry of professional lobbyists, consumer advocates, business trade associations and ranchers.

While these groups may be diverse, they all share an interest in learning from the successes of the technology movement. Indeed, many organic groups could benefit from the use of new technologies that facilitate teleconferencing and collaboration.

Whether it be free conference call solutions that facilitate web arranged conferencing to new generation email newsletter systems, there has not been a more ideal time to leverage new technologies to further the organic mission. The following suggestions are just a handful of tips.

1. Deploy an automated electronic newsletter system

It was not that long ago that sending out an electronic newsletter was time consuming and difficult. This has now changed. A plethora of on-line services are making it possible to create scalable newsletters. These services slash the work load by as much as 70% and in so doing allow organic groups to focus on content creation rather than content delivery.

2. Develop your online professional networking

The most advanced organic advocacy groups create networks of supporters who believe in their values and goals. While the term networking sometimes gets an undesirable reputation, the general reality is that these networks can provide substantial aid to organic advocacy organizations. Today in the San Francisco Bay Area, the expectation is that professional people will have at least a rudimentary profile page on one of the many professional networking pages.

3. Leverage a free phone conference service

In the last five years, there has been growing collaboration between geographically diverse organic advocacy groups. One cause of this trend has been lower air travel costs – a trend that may now be reversing with jumping oil costs.

A separate driver is the accessibility of free conference calling companies. A lot of these conference phone services work on the same underlying principle. They give you a PIN and a toll number to call. If all users dial the same number and enter the same code, they are put into the call.

4. Desktop sharing

Some organic advocacy groups have far flung leadership groups, and it is difficult to expect face-to-face meetings. Technology is addressing this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it’s viewing a PowerPoint document displaying the group’s fund raising initiatives or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be quite useful for many organic groups.

Author Bio: An early contributor to the phone conference industry, Bob Letterman has written at length about how conferencing technologies impact individuals, for profit companies as well as participants in the organic foods movement.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: conference phone, organic foods, technology