Peterson Brothers Make Kansas Farm Life Famous
Published: Friday, December 15, 2023
The Peterson Farm Brothers began making musical parodies as an entertaining approach to sharing what it is like to live and work on a Kansas farm. Their first release on YouTube went viral, turning the brothers, their family and their Kansas beef and crop farm into an internet sensation, with over 5 million views in a month.
One single video, intended primarily for family and friends, opened doors to sharing true agricultural information on a national, and sometimes world stage. In less than a month after releasing the first parody video, which happened to coincide with one of their busiest farming seasons, they rocketed from obscurity to being guests on every major television network morning talk show.
"It stressed our dad out a lot, because some of the video was taken in front of a broken feed bunk," Greg said.
But an opportunity was present, and Greg says the family decided to run with it. Eleven years, 32 videos, nearly a hundred speaking engagements and a handful of foreign country visits later, The Peterson Brothers are still speaking up for agriculture and creatively showing the world what farm work looks like.
"It's the same goal we started with; it just grew to a broader audience," they said.
When they began producing videos, there was little to be found on social media platforms from farmers about their work. Today, social media is crowded with popular agriculture influencers.
Greg and Nathan Peterson, the two oldest of the brother trio, talked about the events that led to their internet popularity and advocating for agriculture during the Great Lakes Expo for Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market last week at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Mich. Both their live performance and technical talk entertained and educated standing-room-only crowds, who came to personally see real people who have made a big impact and are widely recognized in agriculture circles. Youngest brother, Kendall, remained at home.
"Someone has to keep up with chores and farm work," Greg said.
Peterson Farm Brothers are known for rewriting lyrics from popular songs, creating a new version along with an energetic music video that tells the story of a portion of work and life on their farm. They have even been contacted by the likes of country crooners, Walker Hayes, and Jason Rogers, but are still waiting to hear from rock and roll giants like AC/DC, a band they have parodied frequently.
"You think about the power of social media, and about 20 or 25 years ago, a farmer in the middle of Kansas or Michigan or wherever you're at didn't really have the ability to show a million people what they are doing on the farm unless you had a documentary or film crew come out," Greg said.
He writes parody lyrics, something he has done since middle school, while working about half-time on the farm, and half-time on the social media and speaking endeavors.
"Today, if you have a cell phone in your pocket, and you have a compelling video, you can show people what you're doing on the farm at any time."
Most of the actual farm footage in their videos is taped using mounted go-pros, a DJI Phantom drone, and the most up-to-update I-phone technology. Cameras are mounted to tripods during filming, and there are no professional choreographers, makeup artists or costumers. Everything is geared toward a natural feel that would be found on a farm.
The fifth-generation farmers raise wheat, soybeans and grain sorghum on 2,500 acres. They background 1,000 head of beef cattle annually, have 120 head of cow-calf pairs and do custom farming on one thousand acres with their parents. A wedding/event venue is a recent addition to the farm. Commodities, events center and social media outreach are each considered a farm crop, with social media outreach receiving as much attention as any of the farm's crops.
Parodied songs and their accompanying videos are platformed on YouTube, which operates their own copyright and licensing agreements with original artists who receive royalties on parodied music. Peterson Brothers have also released several original songs with video.
It takes anywhere from a week to a month to turn a video and song idea into reality, depending on how much B-roll is needed or already exists. Naturally, big music video projects don't happen during the farm's peak seasons.
A few songs, such as "Farming Like" and "Tractor Stuck" reflect on both farming and real life. "Farming Like" shows that equipment, facilities, homes and vehicles do not have to be the newest and most modern to get a job done or provide happiness. "Tractor Stuck" shows that life can get messy and dirty, and sometimes it takes help to get out of both the literal mud in the field and the mud encountered in life.
The biggest lesson the Peterson Brothers learned during the past 11 years is also the biggest problem when it comes to advocating for agriculture, according to Greg.
"People just don't know where their food comes from. Even people you'd think would know like some of your rural neighbors fail to see the connection. We need to keep getting agriculture in the school systems, keep having conversations online. We never thought we'd get a million views. You never know where your advocacy will lead."
Return to Top of Page