As the sun rises over the rolling hills of central Kansas, the Peterson brothers are hard at work on their family farm, an operation that functions as a testament to five generations of dedication, innovation and resilience. Founded in 1882 by their great-great-grandparents, Peterson Bros Farms has grown from its rooted beginnings to a diversified operation that embraces both tradition and cutting-edge technology while leveraging the power of digital media to support their operation and increase the visibility of American agriculture.
Greg Peterson, the eldest of the three brothers, recounts the farm’s history with a sense of pride and responsibility for this article. “The farm started with my great-great-grandparents, and now my brothers and I are the fifth generation to run it,” says Peterson. “We’ve always gotten along pretty good. I mean, some people think we like never fight or anything like that, which isn’t true. We definitely get in arguments sometimes, but for the most part we get along. Dad has been really good about handing things over to us and including us in decision-making and things like that.”
Today, Greg, Nathan and Kendall, along with their father, manage a farm that spans 2,500 acres of crops and an additional 1,000 acres of custom-farmed land. They grow wheat, corn, soybeans, sorghum and alfalfa, and raise about 1,000 feeder cattle and 100 cow-calf pairs. The brothers are also deeply involved in various aspects of farm management, from crop production to livestock care.
Modern farming comes with its challenges, but the Petersons have embraced technological advancements to stay ahead.
“We’ve implemented auto-steer tractors, prescription planting maps and advanced sprayer systems to increase efficiency and reduce waste,” says Peterson. “The cap stand system [on the sprayer] controls every nozzle, so we’re not overlapping a single square foot of the field when we’re spraying. We’ve got the boom height control that keeps the sprayer booms level. There’s a lot of technology on the sprayer.”
In addition to their farming endeavors, the Petersons have built a robust online presence, sharing their agricultural journey with millions through their YouTube channel. What started as a college discussion for Greg while he was majoring in ag communications at Kansas State University quickly turned into a viral sensation.
“We were talking about a lot of the motivations behind that first video in class,” says Peterson. “We talked about the need to advocate for agriculture and the lack of ag education and how people don’t know where their food comes from. It was really those class discussions that motivated the idea to make that video. It wasn’t a class project or anything, but it was something that I came up with while I was in college and then convinced my two younger brothers to help me out with it. We made our first music video in June of 2012, right after my junior year of college. Nathan was just coming out of high school and Kendall was 15 when we started. That first video got 5 million views in a week, and we got flown to New York City. We were on TV. It was kind of a whirlwind of a week for us. We basically went from zero to a hundred in no time at all.”
The online farming community is incredibly supportive. It’s different from the old coffee shop gatherings — there’s more sharing and less competition.”
– Greg Peterson
The two most-viewed videos on Peterson’s YouTube channel have more than 18 and 12 million views, respectively. The two parody videos, titled “Farming Style (Gangham Style Parody)” and “I’m Farming and I Grow It (Sexy and I Know It Parody)” showcase the Peterson brothers dancing and singing across their farms with ag-related lyrics. Collectively, today, the channel has more than 100 million views and over 300,000 subscribers.
“In all of our lives, there’s kind of before the video and after the video,” says Peterson. “It was kind of a defining mark.”
Their channel not only educates viewers about farming practices but also fosters a sense of community. “The online farming community is incredibly supportive,” Peterson says. “It’s different from the old coffee shop gatherings — there’s more sharing and less competition.”
Looking ahead, Peterson says they are optimistic about the future of American agriculture. They are particularly excited about options that enhance sustainability.
“I don’t want to be controversial with my answer, but I’m pretty excited about cover crops and the soil health movement,” says Peterson. “We had tremendous success with cover crops four or five years ago when it rained. These last three years have been kind of frustrating, but for us, whether you have cover crops or not, everything’s dying. When everything’s brown, who cares, right?”
Peterson says that not every approach works for every farmer and each grower knows what’s best for their unique operation. The carbon credit market is another innovative area for American ag for him.
“I think for American agriculture as a whole, there’s a lot of exciting things with the carbon credit movement,” he says. “I wish people would know that farmers aren’t the issue. We can be part of the solution. We can do a lot of things with carbon and emissions to counteract some of the things going on in the cities or with transportation.”
Water is a critical issue for farmers in central Kansas and the broader Plains region. The area relies heavily on the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest underground water reserves, which spans eight states from South Dakota to Texas.
However, the Petersons’ farm is not situated over the Ogallala Aquifer, meaning they cannot draw from it for irrigation. “We don’t have underground water unless you’re in the river basin,” Peterson explains. “Our pivots pull from reservoirs we’ve built to capture runoff.”
His experience highlights the challenges of water management in this region. “These last two or three years, we haven’t had water in our ponds,” he shares. “Our pivots have been sitting still. My dad always said that we would have water to pump out of our reservoirs eight out of 10 years, but it feels like we’re living in an anomaly.”
For the Petersons, capturing runoff in reservoirs and utilizing irrigation when possible has been a yield-making difference. “We have one central pivot that pumps out of the river, and two others from our ponds,” Peterson explains. “Even just a few inches of water can make all the difference.”
For young farmers looking to enter the industry, there are numerous opportunities available through state and federal programs. The Farm Service Agency offers Young Farmer Loans, which provide critical capital to help new farmers purchase land and equipment.
“That was the first challenge we faced as we came home from college: we can’t all three brothers come home from college and farm together unless we pick up more ground,” says Peterson. “I was the first brother home, so I kind of took that upon my shoulders. We all bought land as we came home, about a quarter of ground each, with the FSA Young Farmer Loan Program. That was part of how we expanded, and we had a couple of those opportunities come our way.”
For young farmers looking to enter the industry, Peterson says professional connections make a huge difference.
“We’ve been able to form relationships with a couple of fields where we form a relationship with the current owner, and then they become our landlord,” says Peterson. “We’ve also been able to form relationships with investors who will buy ground for us to farm and lease from them.”
Historically, others would approach a farmer to extend those relationships based on a farmer’s reputation and skill, Peterson says. “Today, in my opinion, it feels more like you can’t just sit on your laurels and wait for people to come to you. You need to go out, form relationships, and try to be in the right place at the right time.”
For Peterson, farming is more than a profession. It’s a lifestyle deeply rooted in family and personal values. “I love being self-employed,” he says. “I love not having to be under other people’s jurisdiction and being told what to do. I like the freedom of my schedule. I can hang out with my kids when I want to, or I can work extra hours when I want to. I’m pretty self-motivated, so it’s not hard for me to find work to do and be motivated to do it.”
Peterson says the work isn’t without its challenges, though.
“When it doesn’t rain and you have to face some of the hardships that farmers face, whether that’s breakdowns, bad markets or bad weather, it can definitely test you at times,” he says. “It’s not all fun and games.”
But farming with his family and creating outreach for the importance of the ag community with the wider world brings unique rewards, he says.
“I love working outside,” he says. “I love being outdoors and seeing the seasons come and go and hopefully raising bountiful crops. When it doesn’t rain, it definitely makes you question if it’s worth it. But it’s only been three years since 2021 and especially 2020, which were pretty successful. I remember those years, and it certainly was rewarding then. It’s fun to grow an operation and see the fruits of your labor, not just in your crops, but in the growth of your whole operation. There are certainly rewarding parts. I think it’s definitely worth it.”
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