Mike Mitchell shoots first and then speaks in the third person.
The carefree and carefree third-person narration of the Saskatchewan farmer behind a phone camera has drawn millions of views online for his YouTube channel.
“I’m talking about the pros and cons, and that’s how Mike has always made videos,” Mitchell said.
Read more:
Hay West program saves 17,000 head of cattle, but herds are still slaughtered due to drought
Call it Farm TV, but in addition to entertainment, it can dispel myths about modern farming, he added.
His approximately 10-30 minute videos documenting daily life on a Saskatchewan farm are part of a growing trend of farmers reaching out to consumers with life videos.
Elements of agricultural YouTube reality shows may also point to a desire among urban consumers, who have distanced themselves from rural lifestyles, to reconnect with their food sources.
That approach has drawn viewers ranging from fellow farmers comparing notes to urban dwellers intrigued by authentic farm life.
Whatever it is, it’s popular. Mitchell has amassed approximately 162,000 YouTube subscribers.
Mitchell, a movie buff, seeks a realistic but entertaining depiction of life on the farm, with all the chores and frustrations that come with it.
He sows, fixes machinery, and patiently explains every detail so that each viewer can understand what happens next.
Some entries have gained millions of views. Mitchell said the most popular ones tend to include sticking and breaking farm equipment jacks.
His page on Patreon, an app where users subscribe and pay monthly fees to content creators to stay more personally connected, has around 900 subscribers.
Read more:
Canadian Western Agribition celebrates 50 years and the return of the pandemic
This article won’t share where he grows because some uninvited fans have even tracked him down.
Last spring, three spontaneous onlookers appeared in his garden looking for autographs and photos. Mitchell asks viewers to at least contact him beforehand.
Nor does he do it for cash. However, for other producers, Farm TV is an additional income based on connecting with an audience through a notoriously unreliable rural internet.
A 2020 online survey of approximately 500 self-selected farmers by the Saskatchewan Agricultural Producers Association found that 75 percent of participants were dissatisfied with their Internet connections.
Internet problems in rural areas even create obstacles for Mitchell.
“It’s no wonder Mike runs to Swift Current, which is a four-hour round trip to 200 miles, only to upload two videos and then come back and do it again in two days,” Mitchell said.
Read more:
Saskatchewan Farmers Expect a Wet Winter After a Drought-Ravaged Summer
Internet troubles aside, he’s not the only one with a huge following.
Jan Kielstra, better known by his YouTube username SaskDutch Kid, has 158,000 subscribers who watch the sprawling chronicles of life on a dairy farm.
When he had around 70,000 subscribers, he surveyed them and was surprised to learn that half were other farmers. They like to see how their peers do business, but there may be more to it, Kielstra said.
“People like agriculture. I think there are many people who no longer have a connection to a family farm and are still interested in seeing how their food is produced.
“You see a lot of people on social media saying, ‘I bought a new house or I bought a new Lamborghini.’ It’s just about going to milk some cows. “
Milking cows resonates enough for the SaskDutch Kid to market a clothing line. Kielstra sells T-shirts, hoodies and hats on its website.
The income from his YouTube exploits is solid, but they don’t have a huge impact on his dairy operation either, he said.
He’s a farmer first and sees the YouTube channel as a way to counter some of the negatives that dairy operations can have.
“Open the doors of our farm, give people an inside view of what our operations look like and they may like it or not based on the video,” he said.
Nicholas Moreau, also known as South Sask. Farmer has also expanded into merchandise with a similar set of items stamped with its YouTube logo.
He also attributes the success of his channel to a sense of authenticity. Moreau swears, driving a combine harvester with his kids eating sandwiches in the back seat, encountering slumps of time and luck, like this summer’s drought.
“I hate videotaping it, but it’s part of it. People have to see, ”he said.
He is not so interested in other channels outside the province, which cleaned up his image after gaining popularity on YouTube, he said. For him, it is more important to be honest on the channel.
You also won’t find Mike Mitchell pleading with viewers to hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons.
You decline all sponsorship offers for the simple reason that you don’t want anything to limit your freedom. He also turns down anyone who offers to film for him, part of a joke in which Mitchell calls himself a human GoPro.
His philosophy behind the camera is simple: act naturally.
“I am the same person on YouTube as I am in real life,” he said. “In fact, he’ll probably tone it down.”
Reference-globalnews.ca