Blizzard can't stop YouTube farming personalities from showing up for Crary Full Pod event

FARGO — Though this is my third winter braving the relentless North Dakota tundra, it still amazes me how life continues, even during a blizzard. And that’s exactly what happened at the Crary Full Pod event: Life continued despite the weather.

Three of Youtube’s most popular farming personalities made the trek to Fargo for the Crary Full Pod event, where they were able to share their insights on farming, rural life, their Youtube channels and other topics during a live question and answer panel discussion.

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As the doors opened for the in-person event, my fingers were crossed that some attendees were able to make it, despite the weather conditions . Slowly but surely, a steady stream of people made their way through the doors. On that Thursday, the blizzard had roared its ugly head and became worse, so I was honestly pleased that anyone was able to make it given the driving conditions.

I quickly found that there was a son and father who had flown from Chicago to meet with the YouTubers, and that the son watches all of their channels religiously. A man in the crowd was also from Boston. But I must admit the group that drove from Saskatchewan, Canada, had me the most impressed.
As the evening began, the Millennial Farmer , Brian from Brian’s Farming Videos and Larson Farms took their seats on stage. The real fun was about to begin. I was the moderator and emcee for the event and was in charge of delegating the questions asked by the crowd.

The Millennial Farmer, also known as Zach Johnson, and Larson Farms, which included Doug and Chet Larson that evening, are all Minnesota natives. Their answers differed but were similar in many ways because they share many of the same conditions and growing factors, such as soil. Brian Brown, from Brian’s Farming Videos, is a fellow southern Ohioan. I greatly enjoyed hearing his side of the questions because they felt familiar and made me think of home. It was also the first time I had been involved in a conversation about double crop beans since making the move to Fargo.

It turned out that Brian’s farm is about an hour away from my family’s farm, where I grew up. It never fails to amaze me how small the world of agriculture can be.

Many of the questions were topics farmers know all too well: labor shortages, input costs, technology issues and many others. The YouTubers made it clear throughout the evening that they love sharing their life on the farm with their followers, but they show the highlight reel. The big fancy equipment, the harvest’s plentiful bounty and attending conferences and farm shows often grace their channels.

However, oftentimes in the editing process the long sleepless nights, bookkeeping and their operation’s growing pains don’t make the cut. They urged those who want to go into farming because of their videos without an ag background to work on a farm before making the decision to go into the industry, as it isn’t all shiny equipment and clear skies, so to speak.

The evening was full of laughs and knowledge. As the event came to a close I was still surprised by those who were able to make it. But then I remembered — these are farmers. They are used to Mother Nature’s unruly behavior. They tango with it everyday.

Make sure to catch AgweekTV on the weekend of Dec. 31 to see more of the Crary Full Pod event and the YouTubers who made the trip to Fargo.