NEXT GENERATION
Building a digital community
In addition to their farming endeavors, the Petersons have built a robust online presence, sharing their agricultural journey with millions through their YouTube channel. What started as a college discussion for Greg while he was majoring in ag communications at Kansas State University quickly turned into a viral sensation.
Water is a critical issue for farmers in central Kansas, where the Petersons’ family farm resides. Their experiences highlight the challenges of water management in the region.
“We were talking about a lot of the motivations behind that first video in class,” says Peterson. “We talked about the need to advocate for agriculture and the lack of ag education and how people don’t know where their food comes from. It was really those class discussions that motivated the idea to make that video. It wasn’t a class project or anything, but it was something that I came up with while I was in college and then
convinced my two younger brothers to help me out with it. We made our first music video in June of 2012, right after my junior year of college. Nathan was just coming out of high school and Kendall was 15 when we started. That first video got 5 million views in a week, and we got flown to New York City. We were on TV. It was kind of a whirlwind of a week for us. We basically went from zero to a hundred in no time at all.”
The two most-viewed videos on Peterson’s YouTube channel have more than 18 and 12 million views, respectively. The two parody videos, titled “Farming Style (Gangham Style Parody)” and “I’m Farming and I Grow It (Sexy and I Know It Parody)” showcase the Peterson brothers dancing and singing across their farms with ag-related lyrics. Collectively, today, the
12 Irrigation TODAY | Summer 2024
channel has more than 100 million views and over 300,000 subscribers.
“In all of our lives, there’s kind of before the video and after the video,” says Peterson. “It was kind of a defining mark.”
Their channel not only educates viewers about farming practices but also fosters a sense of community. “The online farming community is incredibly supportive,” Peterson says. “It’s different from the old coffee shop gatherings — there’s more sharing and less competition.”
Navigating the future of farming
Looking ahead, Peterson says they are optimistic about the future of American agriculture. They are particularly excited about options that enhance sustainability.
“I don’t want to be controversial with my answer, but I’m pretty excited about cover crops and the soil health movement,” says Peterson. “We had tremendous success with cover crops four or five years ago when it rained. These last three years have been kind of frustrating, but for us, whether you have cover crops or not, everything’s dying. When everything’s brown, who cares, right?”
Peterson says that not every approach works for every farmer and each grower knows what’s best for their unique operation. The carbon credit market is another innovative area for American ag for him.
“I think for American agriculture as a whole, there’s a lot of exciting things with the carbon credit movement,” he says. “I wish people would know that farmers aren’t the issue. We can be part of the solution. We can do a lot of things with carbon and emissions to counteract some of the things going on in the cities or with transportation.”
Water in central Kansas
Water is a critical issue for farmers in central Kansas and the broader Plains region. The area relies heavily on the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest underground water reserves, which spans eight states from South Dakota to Texas.
However, the Petersons’ farm is not situated over the Ogallala Aquifer, meaning they cannot draw from it for irrigation. “We don’t have underground
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