You know, I’ve never been a big YouTube kind of girl. Which may sound like a terrible start to a blog about ag-related YouTube and TV shows and other video content, but it’s a journey you can join me on.
As I began planning the different topics for this blog series, my goal was to discover and build starter lists of educational resources with the most popular recommendations from our industry peers. The first two came easily because I have spent a lot of time reading newsletters and binging podcasts. However, I haven’t turned to video sources nearly as often. Which is surprising because YouTube is the second-most popular search engine right after Google. So clearly, I needed to research and write this article for me, just as much as for you!
The one head start I did have was a solid Instagram lead on a topic expert. I slid into Michelle Martin’s direct messages and asked her to help me out. Michelle, or @AgMag_STX on Instagram, is the magazine owner of The Ag Mag and TV host of Ag on Wheels. If you’re one of the 21,000+ that follow her on Instagram, you know that (fun!) ag educational video content is her specialty.
“I am so grateful for all the hardworking individuals who provide for the world. I am also so blessed to be able to film and write about all these people.” Michelle continued, “I think video content is so powerful because it allows for people to see the visual. A lot of times when we read something or talk about something, we can imagine it in our heads, but to actually put a video out there, you get to see it firsthand. You go straight to the source.”
Michelle originally started out with her print and digital magazine, The Ag Mag. However, over the last four years, she has invested in the video game, and she now owns and produces the show Ag on Wheels. “What drew me to digital video was that I wanted to place a visual with my magazine. Every edition I would highlight a featured farming family or business within the magazine,” explained Michelle.
She’s also grown her video content through social media, which is another move she made following the trends of how we consume content. As a general audience, our attention spans have decreased, so these shorter videos on social media help grow her reach and complement the effort she puts into her show. “There is such a disconnect between the younger generation of consumers with the grower, rancher, business owner. The mainstream way of watching videos is streaming. So having content avenues like YouTube or Acres TV [an agricultural streaming service] services is crucial. And, videos paired with social media is even more powerful.”
Thanks to the additional powers of social media, I was able to build a list of our peers’ favorite ag and dairy-related video series content, including Michelle’s show and more:
TV Shows
- Acres TV
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RFD TV
- Live to Farm
- Shark Farmer TV
- FarmHer
- Ag States of America with comedian Charlie Berens
- AgDay
- U.S. Farm Report
- Clarkson’s Farm
- All Creatures Great and Small
YouTube
- Ag on Wheels
- Nyfarmgirls
- Iowa Dairy Farmer
- 10th Generation Dairyman
- Millennial Farmer
- SaskDutch Kid
- Hilby Family Farm
- Larson Farms
- The Hoof GP
- Nate the Hoof Guy
- Laura Farms
- Cole the Cornstar
- How Farms Work
- Grant Hilbert
- Sonne Farms
- Bales Hay Farm and Ranch
- Welker Farms
- Mike Mitchell
- Peterson Farm Bros
- Sandi Brock
- Backroad Cowgirls
- Ever.Ag
- The Veggie Boys
Documentaries and Docuseries
- Sacred Cow
- Beyond Impossible
- Guardians of the Grasslands
- Kiss the Ground
- Temple Grandin
Michelle gave a really interesting perspective on the heavy influence video has on how we consume and how we learn: “I believe seeing things firsthand or visually gives you a whole new perspective. For example, my sugarcane episode or my boot-making episode. The number of steps it takes to make basic table sugar left me speechless. The same goes for the boot-making, all the little steps. Had I not filmed and watched that, I would have never known.”
We’ve all got a lot to learn and a long list to get started on. Watch party, anyone?
