When Zoe Kent returned to the family farm in Crawford County, Ohio, after earning a degree in ag business, she and her dad, Mickey, made a plan. They formed an LLC, she would work for him for five years and then buy him out. But after just two years, Mickey’s health began to fail and she wound up running the entire operation. An eighth-generation farmer, Kent found herself, while still in her 20s, in charge of growing crops on land the family had been farming since 1820.
While making this transition, she also started making short, funny Snapchat videos of her life on the farm, mostly for city-dwelling friends from her college days at Ohio State. When she began posting her videos on TikTok, her Farm With Zoe began drawing quite a few followers, who now number more than 200,000 across multiple social media platforms.
“I’m just showing people what’s going on on the farm,” Kent tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest episode of Farm Journal’s new Grow Getters podcast. With so many followers, she’s become an influencer, though she says she doesn’t especially like that tag. “I’m definitely first and foremost a farmer,” she says. “And [social media] has blossomed into a whole other side gig.”
Grow Getters is a podcast all about side gigs, specifically ones ag producers have created to help support their farming and ranching operations. Michaelsen posts a new episode every other Tuesday, using humor and his musical skills to complement the creativity and resourcefulness of his guests.
Watch the full episode of Zoe Kent’s interview on Grow Getters.
When Kent isn’t focused on growing corn and soybeans, she spends her time making videos “to show people what agriculture is like today. I’m trying to connect with the consumer and also with other farmers,” she says.
She’s particularly interested in connecting with other women in ag, but her closest connection is with her dad, who joins her for the final part of the podcast. Not only is his advice about farming invaluable, he’s also become a popular figure on Farm With Zoe. In the true spirit of Father’s Day, she says, “All of my best videos are the ones where Dad tags along in them.”
Read more about Zoe Kent here.
Watch more Grow Getters episodes here.
