Derrick Josi shares his life as a dairy farmer in Tillamook, Oregon. Courtesy image. TDF Honest Farming
Instagram: 57,000 followers
Facebook: 770,000 followers
YouTube: 12,000 followers
Twitter: (@derrickjosi) 19,000 followers
Location: Tillamook, Oregon
How did you get started sharing your farming journey on social media?
JOSI: I started after seeing so much blatantly false information being pushed out about dairy farming and farming in general, including posts by people I knew in my own town.
How did you build such a strong following on your Facebook/Instagram page?
JOSI: Honestly, I think people found it refreshing to have a farmer talking about the hard issues: death, calf separation, sending cows to slaughter. All the things we’ve been told to use prepackaged responses to answer with. People enjoy someone willing to stand strong for his profession and not apologize or play it safe. They just want the truth, not some focus-tested line that they’ve heard a hundred times.
On which social media platform are you most active?
JOSI: Facebook is by far my most active platform; it has so many features and ways to show farming, it is hard to beat. Live video always wins because you can’t fake it; you can’t re-record something because it wasn’t perfect. People love raw transparency.
What is the most popular post you’ve ever made?
JOSI: I honestly don’t know; in 2021, I reached 218 million people and I post every day. It’s hard to pick a most popular post.
Derrick Josi shares his life as a dairy farmer in Tillamook, Oregon. Courtesy image.
Can you share an example of a rewarding experience you’ve had using social media to communicate with the public about your life on the dairy farm?
JOSI: Indy, Indy would have to be one that has stuck with me. Indy was a little girl with terminal cancer whose mom reached out to tell me how much joy my posts brought to her daughter. I was able to send her some personal videos just for her and name a calf after her. It hurt my heart the day her mom told me she had lost her battle with cancer.
