social

BUCYRUS, Ohio, USA — Zoe Kent hopes people will lighten up a little to hear her talk about farming on the internet. In one of his latest videos, he compares pesticide application to dry shampoo. “Farming is for girls,” he jokes. On Instagram and TikTok, under the username “farmwithzoe,” Kent films herself putting on boots to load corn into the bed of a huge truck, posts memes about the price of grain, and documents almost everything about life on the farm, from how He gets rocks stuck in his equipment until he eats lunch on long days working on a combine. Now, the future of TikTok — and “Farmtok,” as some creators call the agriculture-related influencer ecosystem — has become more uncertain due to a ban the U.S. government briefly implemented on TikTok over the weekend. The new Trump administration rescinded that ban, at least for now, but farmers are keenly aware that things could change, and with them, the ways they share farm life with the rest of the world. But most say they will continue to adapt to what the platforms throw at them. “It’s like building your business on rented land,” Kent said. “It’s not guaranteed to stay there.” Even before the uncertain threat to TikTok’s future, agricultural creators had to deal with the evolution of social media. As algorithms changed, they faced greater challenges communicating with an audience many see as increasingly disconnected from agriculture. But most say they will continue to adapt to what the platforms throw at them. Some producers make extra money by building an audience on TikTok or Instagram. Others use social media to advertise to local customers, such as restaurants or farmers markets. Perhaps most importantly, they want to continue building community with other farmers in the face of industry challenges such as the profession’s impact on mental health, economic pressure and climate change. Several farmers said the disconnect has grown over the years as social media algorithms have changed. “I know for a fact that our social media reach is way down now,” said Beth Satterwhite, who has been posting on Instagram about her small organic vegetable farm in McMinnville, Oregon, for more than a decade. “The stories of people working in agriculture are a little less interesting for the consumer, I don’t know if it’s really less interesting or just less visible,” he said. Neil Denton, who grows corn, soybeans, wheat and rye in Barlow, Kentucky, shared a similar sentiment. Consider that many of his more than 80,000 followers on Instagram and 33,000 on TikTok are other producers, not members of the public. He finds that “disappointing” and worries about how much people know about the food that ends up on their plates. But he thinks there’s a silver lining: “Farming is a lonely occupation because you’re not around a lot of co-workers,” Denton said. “I think some farmers use social media as an outlet… to be able to express yourself and feel like you’re not alone.” Within the farming community, it can also be helpful to learn from other farmers, many producers said. Megan Dwyer, who grows corn and soybeans and raises beef cattle in northwest Illinois, uses social media, especially X and Facebook, to gauge what’s important to other farmers. “It’s a great source of information, especially quick information,” he said. However, all that quick information comes at a price. Satterwhite described a “soup of language” around agriculture, saying it could be difficult for an outsider to say which agricultural practices are legitimately better for the climate or the environment. “I see a lot of greenwashing,” Satterwhite said, referring to the practice of falsely portraying a product or practice as green in order to market it to an environmentally conscious public. “There is definitely a lot of misinformation out there,” Kent added. “I try to filter out who has genuine questions versus who already has a stance and isn’t willing to listen to me.” That’s something many ag influencers agree on: that they still want a place to have a conversation. As Dwyer said, “You never know who you are influencing there or what can happen.”