Grown Here at Home: Franklin County farmer uses YouTube channel to show what’s happening on the farm

BOONES MILL, Va. (WDBJ) - At Porterfield Run Farm in Boones Mill, they grow all kinds of lettuce, fruit, and other vegetables. They even raise chickens. To let you see all they do for yourself, they started a YouTube channel. They’ve been posting videos since 2018.

“One of the biggest things is probably customer trust. They get to see what we’re doing, see what’s going on, what’s happening,” said Zach Zwart, owner of Porterfield Run Farm.

It’s been good for business, especially in those early days.

“Every customer that would come up to us, we’d give them a business card and say, here you go, our YouTube channel is on the back if you’d like to see what’s been growing,” Zach explained.

It takes time putting these videos together, but they continue to do it consistently, not to gain a huge subscriber count or get monetized, it’s just to let people see what’s happening on the farm and give important updates.

“That’s where we’re going to tell you if something changes; if something bad happens, if something good happens, we’ll let you know on that channel,” Zach said.

He believes YouTube is becoming more popular.

“I’m seeing more and more farmers seeing the value and other businesses, as well, seeing the value in getting more eyeballs on their products,” Zach said.

He said the YouTube channel creates a deeper connection with customers. Showing the difference every dollar makes in bringing produce and chicken from their farm to your table.

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