On "Farmtok," Agriculture is getting its moment in the spotlight. What would it mean if that went away? – Fremont Tribune

On Instagram and TikTok, under the handle farmwithzoe, Kent films herself putting on boots to load corn into a massive truck bed, posts memes about the price of grain and documents just about everything else about farm life — from getting rocks stuck in her equipment to Eating lunch on long days out in a combine.

Now, the future of Tiktok—and “Farmtok,” as some creators call the farm-related ecosystem online—has become more uncertain, thanks to the US government ban briefly implemented on Tiktok this month.

This was followed by the new Trump administration lifting that ban, at least for now, but farmers are all too aware that things could change, and with them the ways in which they share farm life with the rest of the world.

“It’s building your business on leased land, if you will,” Kent said. “It’s not guaranteed to be there.”

Some producers make extra money by building a following on Tiktok or Instagram. Others use social media to advertise to local customers like restaurants or farmers markets. Perhaps most importantly, they want to continue building community with other farmers in the face of industry challenges such as economic pressures, climate change and the profession’s toll on mental health.

Even before the uncertain threat to TikTok’s future, farm creators had to contend with the evolution of social media. As algorithms have changed, these creators have faced greater challenges communicating with a public that many see as increasingly excluded from agriculture.

Multiple farmers said the disconnect has been increasing over the years.

“I know that our social media reach is actually going down a lot,” said Beth Satteruti, who has been posting about her small organic vegetable farm in McMinnville, Ore., on Instagram for more than a decade. “The underlying stories of people working in agriculture are a little less interesting to the consumer — I don’t know if it’s actually less interesting or just less visible,” she said.

Neal Denton, who farms corn, soybeans, wheat and rye in Barlow, Kentucky, shared a similar sentiment. He considers many of his more than 80,000 Instagram followers and 33,000 Tiktok followers to be fellow producers, not members of the public. He calls it “frustrating” and worries about how little people know about the food that ends up on their plates.

Still, Denton thinks there’s a silver lining: “Farming is a lonely job because you don’t have a lot of colleagues,” he said. “I think some farmers use social media as a marketing outlet … to be able to express themselves and to be able to feel like you’re not alone.”

Most say they will continue to adapt to whatever the platforms throw their way.

Within the farming community, it can also be helpful to learn from other farmers, many growers said.

Megan Dwyer, who grows corn and soybeans and raises beef cattle in northwestern Illinois, uses social media — especially X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook — to gauge what matters to other farmers.

“It’s a great source for information, especially quick information,” she said.

However, all this quick information comes at a price.

Satterwhite described the “language soup” surrounding agriculture, saying it can be difficult for an outsider to tell what agricultural practices are legitimately better for the climate or the environment.

“I see a lot of greenwashing,” said Saturti, referring to the practice of falsely portraying a product or practice as green in order to market it to an environmentally conscious audience.

“There’s definitely a lot of misinformation out there,” Kent said. “I’m trying to sift through who has real questions versus who already has a position and they don’t want to hear me.”

That’s one thing many agriculture influencers agree on: They still want a place to have the conversation.

As Dwyer said, “You never know who you’re influencing out there or what might happen.”