UNK grad grows social media following with his ‘edutaining’ Shiloh Farm accounts

RURAL KENESAW — Noah Young isn't your typical Nebraska farmer.

He's quick to admit that.

"I always tell people I'm more like the farmer you think of when you hear the song 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm.'"

That's probably why he's so relatable. The tall, lanky, bearded 28-year-old advocates for agriculture in his own unique way.

"Farmers are pretty humble about what they do," he said. "They're not out there bragging. They just want to get the work done. What I'm trying to do is get people thinking about agriculture and create a greater appreciation for farmers and the Midwest, those people who are growing the food that they eat every day."

Instead of a tractor or combine, his greatest tools are a cellphone and his quirky personality.

The University of Nebraska at Kearney graduate is the mastermind behind The Shiloh Farm social media accounts. He has 1 million followers on TikTok and more than 540,000 on Instagram, where he shares fun farm facts and other information through "bite-sized videos" – usually 60 seconds or less.

Why do chickens love dandelions? He'll explain while holding a Rhode Island Red in his bib overalls.

Want to grow larger onions? He'll show you how, starting with a Sir Mix-a-Lot reference.

What's the difference between whole, vitamin D, 2%, 1% and skim milk? He'll talk about it, between chugs straight from the jug.

"I like to say that I'm edutaining folks all across the nation about agriculture and where their food comes from," Young said. "My main purpose and goal with the channel is to help people, whether they've got their own garden and I'm giving them a tip on how to produce something or I'm educating them as a consumer about what type of food choices they're making."

Leap of faith

Raised near Juniata in rural Adams County, Young was always interested in the outdoors, nature and animals. However, he didn't get involved in agriculture until he met his future wife, Sierra.

"The rule for dating the farmer's daughter was that you had to come work for the family farm," he explained. "That was really my introduction into agriculture."

Sierra's family practices no-till farming, allowing him to learn about sustainable agriculture, stacking enterprises and soil health. They also own and operate Green Cover Seed, a Bladen-based business that provides custom cover crop mixes for agricultural producers across the U.S. and Canada.

Young knew he couldn't afford to start his own farming operation, but he wanted to continue working in agriculture.

"That inspired me to get my degree in agribusiness," he said. "I thought, well even if I'm not the one who's doing the farming, I'd like to be someone who can support this industry. I knew I wanted to be part of that, I just didn't know what it was going to look like."

After two years at Central Community College in Hastings, Young enrolled in the agribusiness program at UNK, where he was also active in the Agribusiness Club, Loper Programming and Activities Council and NEXT business leadership program.

"I loved my time at UNK," he said. "I really enjoyed the smaller class sizes and I had great relationships with all my instructors. I felt like I could ask them questions that were more specific to what I was trying to accomplish."

Young was already living on a 5-acre property about 9 miles northwest of Kenesaw when he got married in 2017, at age 21. He graduated from UNK the following year and started working full time for Green Cover Seed, first as a social media specialist, then in "all things marketing."

"They didn't have a marketing department, so I started growing and developing that department," he said. "By the time I left, we had a great team of marketers in place. I was really proud of what we were able to accomplish there."

Young was still working for Green Cover during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020. That's when he and Sierra decided to invest in their homestead, officially launching The Shiloh Farm, a sanctuary where they could raise their family, grow their own food and deepen their connection to the land.

Young decided to document the journey, sharing his first video on Instagram in April of that year.

"It was working, but not really having great success," he said of the online interest.

Everything changed when he joined TikTok and started sharing Chicken Facts of the Day. Did you know a processed bird can produce 240 McNuggets but only two Raising Cane's chicken fingers?

After a video got 80,000 views, Young "was hooked." He's since had two videos – one on the science behind seedless watermelons and another on sunflowers and their ability to detoxify soil – reach 10 million views.

Young left his job with Green Cover in 2022 to focus exclusively on creating content for his social channels.

"When I left Green Cover, I wasn't for sure that this was going to work," he said. "It was kind of a leap-of-faith moment. But here we are a few years later and it seems to have worked out."

Next journey

At The Shiloh Farm, Young and his wife raise chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats and sheep, along with a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. They have a large hoop house, a greenhouse, a small vineyard, 35 fruit trees and four beehives on the property.

Young films most of his content there, but he also shares other adventures, such as ATV riding through an exotic animal ranch, participating in a four-day cattle drive in Arizona and learning how to rope from rodeo world champion Tyson Durfey.

"It's amazing once you start getting into this world how many opportunities open up for you," said Young, who collaborates with ag influencers in Nebraska, too.

Although he's often recognized locally – "Hey, aren't you the chicken guy? I follow you on social media" – his biggest audiences actually come from major cities on the East and West Coasts.

"A fact that I like to throw out there is that 8% of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows, which is like 27 million people," Young said. "And that's bizarre to me, but I don't want to judge them for that. They don't know any better. If you live in New York City and you've never even seen a cow in real life, I could understand why you'd believe that."

Young acknowledges that he's not an expert on certain topics, either. He does a lot of research for his videos and enjoys learning along with his followers.

For instance, he's currently visiting bison ranchers across the Great Plains with hopes of starting his own herd in the near future.

"I'm going to document that process and bring my followers along this journey so they can see what it's like to start a bison ranch from scratch. Then when everything goes wrong, they can sit in the comfort of their home and I'll be the one taking care of the problem," he said with a laugh.

Currently, Young generates revenue through sponsorships, branded content and merchandise sales, but his long-term goal is to establish a profitable farming/ranching operation, something he can pass on to his children.

"I'm very content with the amount of followers I have right now. Obviously, it's great that it keeps growing. But I'm not as worried about the numbers as much as I am being able to provide for my family and kind of maintain this life that we have," he said.