Farmers making connections with people who see flowers and hogs as the perfect selfie partner.
Baby goats and sunflower selfies are a boon for local farmers. Just look at the lines at the Pa. Farm Show.Amy Ketterer, of Greenlane, Pa., pets a baby goat during her visit with her daughter to the Steinmetz Family Farm booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Wednesday, Jan.
10, 2024.The selfie station by the giant pyramid of potatoes sat empty Wednesday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, but around the corner, the bleat of baby goats had already drawn hundreds of paying customers. That’s the fickle nature of social media in the farming world, where folks will pay money to cuddle with dairy cows or propose on bended knee in a field of sunflowers. Some call it agritourism, people visiting farms as tourists, or even agritainment. Lauren Steinmetz, of“It got to the point where we had to start making money with these animals or we had to get rid of them,” Steinmetz said while cradling a baby goat. “I told my husband I had an idea and he said that was crazy, but here we are.” Last year, Steinmetz brought about 40 goats, all of them 2 to 6 months old, to the “snuggling station” and lines were long. This year she brought 87.Nature plays a part in what animals become social media stars. Steinmetz said goats don’t bite and don’t mind being handled.Harold Harpster, 87, of Boalsburg, Centre County, has lived on a dairy farm his entire life, raising and milking Jerseys. Few people wanted to cuddle cows for most of his decades in dairy, but it’s a difficult profession, so he understands the appeal from a farmer’s perspective.“I get it, but I’m not sure I would recommend it,” he said. “They’re big animals and they can kick.”“Donkeys are actually very smart,” Sneed said, “but most people don’t have the intelligence to understand that.” Alpacas sport the same shaggy haircut millions of suburban teens have and, even better, they don’t bite. One downside: They spit. “Spitting is their way of protecting themselves,” Angie Grove, an alpaca farmer from Carlisle, said at the show. “It’s better to take a shower, though, than get stitches.” Grove’s two alpacas, Lilo and Alice, don’t often pose for selfies, but they do go out and visit senior citizen centers. Sunflower fields have become social media darlings in recent years, backdrops for millions of Instagram stories and TikTok views. Along with being used for mazes, festivals, and photo opportunities,in Ottsville, Bucks County, adheres to. Her farm, founded in the 1860s, sat fallow for decades. She and her husband figured sunflowers would make a good first impression and they’re relatively easy to grow.After fine-tuning the process, Brodsky said her farm became a model for CSA. She doesn’t charge specifically for sunflower selfies, but does have “So if you think about it, you plant all of those sunflowers and you don’t have to harvest them and you’re making money off of the experience,” she said. “That is extremely valuable for farmers in terms of different avenues for revenue, particularly profitable revenue.” Lavender and canola are also popular social media backdrops, Brodsky said. In South Jersey, one tulip farm became so popular that local officials asked its owners toToo much of anything can prove problematic, particularly on social media. Not every farmer wants teens traipsing through their flowers or hugging their Scottish Highland cow, no matter how adorable they are. In Wyoming, officials havein Pennsylvania accused the farm of exploiting their animals and canceled the yoga and cuddling events they had planned with the farm. On Wednesday, as a line of eager goat cuddlers snaked through a maze of palleted walls, Steinmetz said the proof was in the petting. “We’re doing very well,” she said. “Most people come through, stay about five minutes, and say it was the best part of the show for them.”
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