DLG e.V.

Award winners in the categories “Best YouTuber”, “Best TikToker”, “Best Instagrammer/Facebooker” – award ceremony at the Young Farmers Party at Agritechnica 2023 in Hanover, Germany

(DLG). The DLG (German Agricultural Society) has honored the winners of the “DLG Agri Influencer Award” for social media at the Young Farmers Party at the Agritechnica 2023 exhibition, Hanover, Germany. The awards, which were presented to German-speaking and international influencers in three categories, aim to both recognize interesting and high-quality agricultural social media channels and present them to a wider public.

As the jury’s decisions were close in some cases, other notable channels were named as “Honorable Mentions” in addition to the award winners. A social media pioneer was also awarded a special award. Freya von Czettritz, CEO of DLG Holding GmbH, and Felix Hollmann, Chairman of the Junge DLG (“Young DLG”), presented the awards at the Young Farmer’s Party.

“Social media is an important communication tool, especially for farmers, as it can build bridges to society and the traditional media,” said von Czettritz, who is active on many social media channels herself. “There is a lot of talent here, whose messages and activities can help bring practical agriculture closer to people in the cities.”

DLG Agri Influencer Award: Winners 2023

DLG Best Agri YouTuber International: Oliver Harrison

https://youtube.com/@OllyBlogsAgricontractfarmer

Jury statement

The jury considers Oliver Harrison and his YouTube channel @OllyBlogsAgricontractfarmer to be an influencer in the truest sense of the word. Not only has he been posting a new video every day since lockdown in March 2020, covering all aspects of his everyday life on the farm, but he also drove 940 miles across the British Isles in a combine harvester to raise awareness of the importance of mental health, raising over £100,000 for mental health and for child cancer initiatives. In addition, Oliver leverages his social media presence, sending birthday wishes in his videos in exchange for a charitable donation. He also interacts extensively with his online community, through several initiatives, including a daily check-in for mental health in farming under the hashtag #AnswerAsAPercent.

Oliver Harrison hails from Tarbock in the North West of England and currently has 102,000 followers on YouTube.

DLG Best Agri YouTuber in German: Lars Peters

https://www.youtube.com/@Bio_Peters

Jury statement

The jury was impressed by Lars Peters’ YouTube channel @Bio_Peters because Lars speaks directly to his viewers and takes them right into the tractor cabin, the field and all other corners of the farm. He has only been running the channel since April 2023, but his natural talent as a communicator, coupled with his experience from other social networks, is tangible. He prepares his topics well, both content and technology, and shows the things that didn’t go according to plan, clearly and honestly. His videos make you lose track of time, not least because Lars radiates his passion for farming and manages to transfer this to his audience.

Lars Peters comes from Trebel in Lower Saxony and currently has 9,880 followers on YouTube.

DLG Best Agri Instagrammer International: Laura Vallejo Castro

https://instagram.com/lauritavallejo

Jury statement

The jury was impressed by Laura Vallejo Castro, who on her Instagram profile @lauritavallejo takes her followers with her to where she works in the Galician forests in Northern Spain. The “chainsaw operator, forester, farmer and livestock breeder” gets stuck in every day, working with heavy forestry equipment and inspiring fellow women and young people to take up these professions. She aims to show the work involved in producing food and help people understand the necessity of forestry and farming. Laura Vallejo Castro’s content is substantial and credibly rooted in her environment, with “woodwork-in-progress” images on the one hand, some glossy images on the other and a lot of interaction with her community in between.

Laura Vallejo Castro comes from Lugo in northwest Spain and currently has 91,200 followers on Instagram.

DLG Best Agri Instagrammer in German: Freya Fliege

https://instagram.com/freyafliege/

Jury statement

The jury highlighted the diversity and particular authenticity of Freya Fliege’s Instagram profile @freyafliege. Her posts on various aspects of animal husbandry and arable farming are exceptional, both in terms of their content as well as their photography and visual imagery. As someone who has made a career change to agriculture, she understands the perspective of non-farmers particularly well and brings together arguments on critical topics such as the use of pesticides or the plow as well as on animal husbandry methods, crop rotation or biogas, all topped off with a pinch of agrarian romance. She actively interacts with her community, and Freya Fliege’s entire appearance reflects her desire for more appreciation for the high standards of German agriculture, for food and for the agricultural profession.

Freya Fliege comes from Bad Salzuflen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and currently has 1,634 followers on Instagram.

DLG Best Agri TikToker International: Frederick Frimpong

https://tiktok.com/@farminginafrica_official

Jury statement

The jury is of the opinion that Frederick Frimpong’s TikTok channel @farminginafrica_official has a clear objective and also achieves it: to convey useful information to other young Africans and African farmers how a farm in Africa can be economically viable. Addressing his target groups directly, he communicates his content credibly, with dramatic and technical skill. His videos not only delight his viewers, but also offer the broad range of knowledge that Frederick Frimpong has acquired in Mexico, Kenya, South Africa and the USA and now puts into practice on his own farm. He wants to contribute to developing Africa’s great agricultural potential.

Frederick Frimpong hails from Accra, the capital of Ghana, and currently has 129,400 followers on TikTok.

DLG Best Agri TikToker in German: Patrick Strassburger

https://tiktok.com/@agrarfluencer

Jury statement

The jury concluded that Patrick Strassburger presents agricultural and food-related topics on his TikTok account @agrarfluencer in an editorially skillful and technically adept manner. His focus in on the production of explanatory videos that pick up on and take a closer look at an aspect of a debate, a scientific finding, agricultural news or social media comments. He packages this content in crisp, entertaining videos to suit the platform. He likes to deal with the criticism levelled at agriculture, which he answers in a matter-of-fact, sometimes slightly ironic, manner, or he speaks his mind in a calm and approachable manner, campaigning for more appreciation of agriculture.

Patrick Strassburger comes from Steckborn on the Swiss side of Lake Constance and currently has 41,500 followers on TikTok.

DLG Agri Influencer Award: Honourable Mentions 2023

International (in alphabetic order)

Gifty Hodey Manye, Accra, Ghana

https://youtube.com/@theghanaianfarmer

Aritetsoma Opuro, Warri, Nigeria

https://facebook.com/joy.opuro

Shuichi Tokumoto, Tottorishi, Japan

https://youtube.com/@treeandnorf

German-speaking (in alphabetic order)

Sebastian Bützler, Bad Münstereifel, Deutschland

https://tiktok.com/@bastbu

Carolin Pleus, Bawinkel, Deutschland

https://instagram.com/hofpleus_pigstop

Stefan Vogelsang, Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Deutschland

https://instagram.com/hof_vogelsang

Not all award winners were able to travel to the ceremony.

The competition 

The awards in the six categories recognize social media profiles that are particularly committed to public relations work in agriculture. The criteria include quality of the content, creativity of the presentation, setting of topics, implementation of the topics in words and images, illustration of the diversity of agriculture, balance of the content, interaction with the community. An independent, international jury of recognized media professionals and experts, convened by the DLG and chaired by Heike Zeller (aHEU), selected the winners in the three categories.

Further informationen: www.dlg.org/aia23

The “DLG Agri Influencer Award” is presented annually. Next year, the international competition will be held as part of EuroTier, which will take place from November 12 to 15, 2024 at the Hanover Exhibition Grounds, Germany.

Social media pioneer honored

Farmer and comedian Derek Klingenberg from Peabody, Kansas, known as “Farmer Derek” on social media, was named “AGRITECHNICA 2023 Ambassador of Kansas” at the DLG Agri Influencer Awards 2023 ceremony. Derek Klingenberg is a social media pioneer, who has performed as a singing farmer and comedian on YouTube for over ten years, communicating on agriculture with the public in a likeable way. He also inspired the Peterson Farm Brothers’ parody song videos, which they performed at the Young Farmer’s Party in 2013. Derek is particularly interested in high-tech agriculture and has been an active agricultural influencer for the DLG trade fairs Agritechnica and EuroTier since 2017.