At Just 22 Years Old, She's a Farmhand Who's Found Social Media Success In a Remarkable Way
Women of Ag: Ag With Emma
From glimpses of harvest, to a peek at producing crops in the northern plains, anyone can follow “Ag with Emma” online, but it’s how the 22-year-old’s journey in agriculture started that is truly unique.
“There's not a lot of people in my situation that can openly like travel to go network with people and see their farm and showcase what their family has built on generations,” Emma says. “And I just think it's a really cool opportunity to be able to show that.”
There wasn’t a blueprint or playbook to follow. Instead, Ag With Emma was born out of a curiosity to share what she knew.
“I started sharing ag facts every day on my story like, ‘Oh, there's only 10 GMOs,’ or ‘cows have four different stomach compartments.’ Then I decided I wanted to make that more of a public story, so I created a different social media account. “
She says her grandparents then started asking questions about what she did at work. And that sparked another idea.
“Anyone can share an ag fact on the internet, but when you start personalizing those facts and your story, then that's what really makes a difference with your audience and other people that want to learn about the industry,” she says.
Today, Ag With Emma’s YouTube account has more than 170,000 subscribers. Some of her videos have already racked up more than 32 million views.
“I never liked being in front of a camera,” Emma admits. “And I still kind of get shy about it. But since I use my phone, it's kind of more natural.”
Nearly two years into her journey, taking risks and going the unconventional route has become Emma’s MO. She’s not a farmer’s daughter and didn’t grow up on a typical family farm. Instead, she was involved in agriculture various ways growing up, and she fell in love with it.
After high school, Emma went to a community college in southern Idaho to get her associate degree. She then took the logical next step and enrolled at a university.
“But once I got into the university stuff, I decided that because I was a transfer student, it's always a little harder as a transfer student, and I just didn’t feel connected,” Emma says.
She describes it as feeling trapped. So, just a month into her second semester, she decided to drop out.
“There are so many people out here and so many people willing to take a chance on you and like, help you learn that you shouldn't have to sit in a desk at school to pay for things you don't like,” she says.
She left school and started working on a farm in southern Idaho. From there, she hopped into a different opportunity: working with a custom harvesting crew.
“My parents thought I was crazy. My parents always supported me, but they can still think you're crazy,” she says. “I’ve always an been academically goal based kid with like a 4.0. I had a bunch of scholarships. So, when I dropped out, everyone was like, ‘Emma, what are you doing?’”
That risk she took nearly two years ago has turned into so many more opportunities than even Emma ever imagined.
“It's just fun. And it's cool,” Emma says. “I’m happy when I’m outdoors and working on a farm. And I love to work hard. So, when I’m home at the end of the day, and I’m exhausted, I love it. You get to learn new things all the time, because you never stop learning.
In that first year Emma started working on various farms and sharing her story, her journey was packed full with too many lessons and memories to even count.
“There's just something about agriculture that you just learn so much about yourself and about life in general, but you just feel way more connected to your job,” she says.
Since leaving college in 2022, Emma’s worked on about seven different farming operations, but she’s also sprinkled other jobs throughout. And at each job, she shares a slice of life from each farm.
“There's some farmers that are comfortable with it. Like, that's part of the reason that I work here. And then there's other farms that I work on that might not let me share it all, which is completely fine,” she says.
Emma’s already met so many different farmers and dabbled in agriculture in many different ways. She currently works on a farm in North Dakota, and this fall marks her first time harvesting sunflowers.
“I didn't even know you harvest sunflowers with a combine but now I know,” Emma says with a smile. “I've been helping get them ready for sunflower harvest and you just learn as you go.”
It’s not just U.S. farms Emma is exploring and sharing. Last winter, she even took a trip to Australia.
“I went down the route after customer harvest was done. And then I went and harvested down there,” she says. “It kind of taught me about different things that farmers have to face in different areas.”
Emma still has big dreams, and her journey around the globe is just getting started.
“Even Canada is super different from coast to coast, and I also want to go to South Africa and Brazil. Those are the big ones,” he says.
Emma ultimately wants to operate equipment on all seven continents, but her ultimate goal is much bigger than that.
“Eventually, I want to get into owning something, or maybe doing some on my own. Maybe I’ll own farm ground, maybe I’ll start trucking. That's the part of the Ag with Emma that I don't limit down because, you know, it goes with the risk,” she says.
With each stop, and each farm, Emma’s constantly in motion, sharing it all, even if she knows this career comes with what she calls ‘calculated risks.’
“It's definitely still risky. I have like weeks that I’m like, ‘What am I even doing?’ And then I think that I have to go do something else. So, every time I go to find new adventure, it's a risk because you never know what's going to happen. You never know what you're going to learn. And you just have to calculate that risk and keep moving forward,” Emma says.
Tyne's Women of Ag is a series to feature fierce females in agriculture. Read and watch more from the ongoing series sponsored by John Deere:
At 16 Years Old, 7th-Gen Iowa Farmer Smashes the Mold as Family's First Female Farmer
From Father to Daughter: At Just 26 Years Old, Zoe Kent Took the Reins of Her Family's Farm
