Josi to farmers: 'You've got to be online showing your life'

Audience members chat with Tillamook, Ore., dairy farmer Derrick Josi following his Nov. 20 presentation about social media on the farm at the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Derrick Josi's most important piece of advice to farmers looking to establish a social media presence on their farms: "Don't just stand there, actually show stuff." Josi, a Tillamook, Ore., dairy farmer, reaches 220 million people with his TDF Honest Farming .



He spoke during the agribusiness breakfast Nov. 20 at the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. "You can't just stand there holding your phone and talking, because the attention span of the social media user is like three seconds now," Josi said.

"Start with something that's going to catch their attention so they stick around for at least 15 seconds, so you can get some information into their head." On his videos, the average user watch time is 35 seconds, Josi said. "That doesn't seem like long, but when you look at the demographics of what the average is, I keep eyeballs on the videos longer than most do," he said.

"Probably because I have cute Jersey cows to help." Some of his most popular videos are the ones where he's covered in manure, he said. "The things people would think you wouldn't want the public to see, like a blown riser that has manure spouting out in the field — no, I show it, because it's farming," he said.

"It's amazing the amount of people who want to know what we're doing and how we're raising their food." Wheat farmers might not have cows, but they do have a strong asset in their arsenal, Josi added: "People love farm equipment ..

. always a draw." He shared how one of his photos of his 50-stall rotary milker — which allows him to milk up to 350 cows in an hour, and all of his 1,100 cows in four hours in the morning and four hours at night — wound up being used by animal rights activists.

The activists darkened the image and falsely claimed dairy cows are being hooked to the machine 24 hours a day until they are discarded. Josi made a video making fun of the falsified photo. "If you guys aren't online talking and showing what you're doing, somebody else will," Josi told farmers.

"You've got to be online showing your life." Many legacy farmer or grower associations do good work representing farmers on legislative matters, but seem to lack an online presence, Josi said. "They aren't very forward-facing with the public," he said.

"They seem to have taken a step back and expect farmers to do it." If a farmer doesn't want to be online, but still wants to help, they can like, share or comment on other farmers' social media. "The algorithm likes engagement," Josi said.

"The more you engage with positive content, the more it's going to be shown to people outside the industry." Safety considerations One audience member, an avid Josi fan, asked how he manages nasty comments he receives, particularly the people who threaten Josi's life, or the lives of his family. "I no longer show my daughters online because I didn't want to deal with people threatening to come steal my daughters and put them in the slaughterhouse, which I've had happen, or any number of things where they say things like that," Josi said.

He's also had people show up on his farm. Fortunately, they were fans, but "I do worry about the day that it's somebody who is not a fan." Josi said he pictures the commentators in their parents' basement on their phone or computer, "not doing anything with their life.

" For particularly maddening comments, he tries to step away from social media for a few days. He's built up enough of an audience that his followers usually swarm negative comments and flood the naysayers out, he said. "The vitriol online is real .

.. social media is a blessing and a curse," Josi said.

"Your best recourse is to call out the B.S., make fun of them for it and then they will not do it again.

That's why you have to have the accurate information online.".