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Peterson Brothers find unique way to advocate for agriculture

A Kansas farm family has found a unique way to communicate what farmers do to their consumers in the city. 

Greg Peterson has two younger brothers and a sister, and they are fifth-generation farmers near Assaria, Kansas.  Just over six years ago, Greg, who studied ag communications at Kansas State, recruited his siblings Nathan, Kendal, and Laura to make a parody music video, which helped start conversations about where food comes from.  He says, “When you advocate for agriculture, there has to be a connection, something that you can have in common with the person you’re talking to, whether that’s music or family or food, whatever it is, just find that bridge.”  The Peterson Farm Brothers found their bridge by making up new lyrics to popular urban songs.  “We parody these urban-style songs so that people from cities have a connection to the video.  You know, if they see farmers doing a parody of Uptown Funk, and they know Uptown Funk, well, then that gives them a reason to want to watch the video.  That’s always been our strategy.”  Now, along with the music videos, the Peterson family is making educational videos used by schools and informational blog posts.

Peterson says a lot of people would like to know and have conversations with farmers, and he encourages producers to talk to people online, or in person.  “You don’t have to write a big old long post or even make your own videos.  You can share other people’s posts, other people’s videos just to get the conversation started.”

And he says stay positive, honest, transparent, and respectful when engaging with consumers, as the online negativity commonly seen helps no one.  “People have always trusted farmers because of that, and so it doesn’t make sense for us to go online and just fight with people and name-call in order to get our message across.  Our best bet is going to be, you know, just being honest and transparent with people in a respectable way.”

Greg Peterson was a presenter at the Wisconsin Agribusiness Association’s Agribusiness Classic in Madison, Wisconsin Tuesday.

Listen to Greg Peterson discuss advocating for agriculture with Brownfield’s Larry Lee here: