Indiana Farmer Influencers Use Social Media to Share Agriculture With the World

In partnership with: Indiana State Department of Agriculture

In today’s world, social media is an integral part of our communications. With the continuous rise of influencers, many are using their platforms to educate others about topics and ways of life they may not know much about.

While many people are removed from the farm by a few generations, access to educational and entertaining content about agriculture is as close as the click of a button.

With followers and subscribers in the range of 9,000 to 65,000, it’s safe to say Hoosier farmers are – without a doubt – influencing the masses who follow them.

See more: Top 10 Indiana Agriculture Products

#TodayAtTomFarms

Tom Farms is a multigeneration, family-owned organization specializing in seed corn, corn and soybeans with thousands of acres that span seven counties in northern Indiana.

Kassi Tom-Rowland, granddaughter of farm founders Everett and Marie Tom, says her role encompasses all things people. She approaches social media with three goals in mind: to tell her family story, communicate with the public and advocate for agriculture. One way Tom-Rowland does so is by directing followers to a look behind the scenes by using #TodayAtTomFarms on Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It’s a visibility thing,” she says. “It’s actually what’s happening today at the farms, and it helps make people aware.”

Tom Farms is also in the influencing business outside of social media. While they’re not set up as an agritourism destination, they do offer farm tours regularly, host occasional political events, speak at a variety of functions and hold an annual event for many of their land partners and neighbors, totaling around 400 people.

“Anytime we can be in front of the like-minded or not-so-like-minded, we’re game for that,” Tom-Rowland says.

To Educate and Entertain

Down in southwest Indiana, first-generation farmer Ethan Clarke spreads the word about Indiana agriculture primarily on Instagram and YouTube.

“I had social media just like everybody else and just basically posted farming stuff,” Clarke says. “The more I posted, the more folks started following along.”

Clarke began farming on 15 acres of rented land in 2017 and today grows corn, soybeans and occasionally wheat on well over a thousand acres of leased and owned land.

“I had social media just like everybody else and just basically posted farming stuff. The more I posted, the more folks started following along.”

– Ethan Clarke, first-generation farmer

Because of his social media presence, Clarke has been invited to speak at conferences and colleges, as well as attend special events as an influencer.

Clarke says the purpose of his social media platforms is as simple as wanting to educate others and be entertaining.

“I try to be as authentic as I can be,” Clarke says. “If it’s a good product I really use and think would work well for others, I promote it.”

Harvest and Heart

Directly west of Indianapolis on the Illinois state line, Erin Holbert focuses on continuing her family’s tradition as she farms corn and soybeans alongside her father. She shares her story on social media and operates her clothing business, Heart of the Midwest, where a portion of every sale is donated to AgrAbility, a program working to enhance the quality of life for farmers, ranchers and other agricultural workers with disabilities.

Holbert initially began her social media role as a business tactic to promote Heart of the Midwest. A professional development opportunity in 2021 allowed her to grow her Instagram page to 10,000 followers. Today, she has expanded to 65,000 followers. After Instagram came YouTube.

“For the first month or two, I wasn’t sure if it was worth it, and then it took off,” Holbert says. “Taking the grain leg apart and redoing it was one that folks found really interesting.”

Oddly enough, she says many of her YouTube followers are from Europe and Australia. Holbert hopes to use her social media platforms to help others realize that being a woman in agriculture is not unusual.

“I never felt weird being a woman in ag because it was common in my area,” she says. “I never felt it was strange until I left my community.”

Holbert welcomed her first child in 2024 – a girl – and hopes her social media influence will allow her daughter to enter a world where being a woman in agriculture is seen as more common.

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