Teen farmer documents exploits

Emerson King posts videos working on a farm. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Emerson King is fast becoming royalty in video farming. The YouTuber also appears on AcresTV, a website focusing on agricultural endeavors.

The Kentucky teen’s channel Adventures of Farmer King hosts videos on such tasks as tending to crops.

“It's a working goal with the YouTube and all to make it a supplement income,” he said.

Emerson’s appearances on AcresTV is what earns more greenbacks, though, compared to social media’s relatively paltry sums.

“It's sort of the Netflix version of agriculture to where they find farming channels and they'll pay you almost like you're an actor, basically,” he said. “I'm making my videos and I'll put it on their website and promote it. They're trying to get involved in agriculture because agriculture is still very behind. For example, basketball or any sport, everything's done on social media. They're just trying to help move it along.”

AcresTV pays Emerson to debut his content.

“My content on AcresTV is a week ahead of the YouTube,” he said. “They pay a lot more money than what YouTube pays to be on there.”

Emerson, 16, became aware of the outlet from another YouTuber.

“There's this young lady,” he said. “She lives probably about an hour and a half down the road. I met her at a farm show. Her name's Grayce Emmick, but she goes by Farmer Grayce on YouTube. She has a huge following. It's over a hundred thousand followers on YouTube. I know at least 300 some thousand on TikTok and 200 some on Instagram.”

Grayce already was featured on AcresTV, giving Emerson the idea to follow suit.

“We're the only ones that live somewhat close to each other, so we did something together,” he said. “She signed about a year before with AcresTV.  I was with them at a farm show, just talking, and AcresTV was right there. It just popped in my head. I'd say something to them about it, and it just sort of went from there.”

Emerson attends farm shows to such locales at South Dakota with AcresTV funding travel expenses. The next one on the list is in February.

“It's all working connections and getting people involved,” he said.

AcresTV promotes farmers such as Emerson at the events.

“There's hundreds of thousands of people that will come to these farm shows in the matter of three days,” he said. “AcresTV with it being a branch off of a successful seed company, it gives them a very good financial backbone to really advertise. Some of these spots at the farm show get little 10 by 10s, 10-by-10-foot square. That's a couple thousand dollars.”

Emerson said the large booths can range in the $50,000 to $60,000 range.

“AcresTV has more of a backbone to do stuff like that,” he said.

Emerson works on 220 acres, 150 of which is owned by his family with the rest of the land leased.

“I'm more like the fourth generation total, but if we're going off row crop and as far as our chicken houses, I'd be the second generation,” he said. “We have our chickens and then we have corn. Soybeans is what we do.”

Emerson’s grandparents had hogs instead of fowl.

“There's chicken houses always around, and the hog market crashed,” he explained. “When my dad was about 22, his dad had passed away from, I believe, a heart attack. He continued doing the hogs. And he works an outside job. That job moved him out of state to where he lived at a campground during the weeks and came home on the weekends. At that point in time, the hogs were just too much to mess with because the money you made off of them was nothing.”

Emerson’s family then chose to focus on poultry.

“We had already owned two chicken houses where we did it on the side,” he said. “When all that happened, we ended up building four more chicken houses. The plan on paper was that when he did get moved away, he'd be able to farm with the chicken houses, make a living that way.”

But fate kept Emerson’s dad working an outside job.

“Long story short is when we were building the four houses before, we had some, I guess you could say, surprises as far as we had to spend a lot more money to build them than when we actually wanted,” he said. “More for the safety from not drowning in debt, he kept working at the job. My mom actually does all the day-to-day chicken house work while I'm at school.”

Emerson spends much of his time toiling on the farm, which is a family affair.

“I have a little sister,” he said. “She participates when she has to. She does horses and that's about it. We have two horses and three donkeys. She runs barrels and poles. We don't own a barrel horse because, shoot, they're 20 grand a horse at least. She has a trainer she works with, and she usually rides one of their horses when it comes to competitions.”

Emerson’s hobby led to him finding just the right booming voice to handle the professional intro for the videos.

“We go to the Supercross events,” he said. “When they introduce the riders, he is the one that does it. He'd say the name if they're riding a Honda or Yamaha or KTM or whatever. I reached out to him and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a more of a farming style one? And he said, sure.”

Emerson enjoys the variety of working on a farm.

“Right now, I'm in school and I take electrical and maintenance classes,” he said. “One of the favorite things about farming is it's a variation. I'm doing a different job every day. Another thing is it's your own business. You're not working for a big corporate company that doesn't care if you're really there or not. Basically, you're just a number of them to where with the farm, you're your own brand, own personality, and you get to do what you love every day than have to go to work.”

Emerson plans to pursue a career but maintain the farm as the next generation.

“I'll for sure go to trade school or even college and get a degree in something just in case,” he said. “Farming is a very tricky business. It's very easy to make wrong moves in farming and really get yourself in a pickle when it comes to having enough money to pay all your bills. I'll definitely have a degree or something in case something does go sideways, I have something to fall back onto. I don't really plan on going to a big university. Local online classes, you can do now to where I can still be at home and farm all at the same time.”

Emerson said sustaining a farm always comes down to finances.

“You just got to make sure you take an operating loan out to pay your bills up front in the spring,” he said. “You sell your crops and you pay your loan back. This year has been a horrible year down here in Kentucky as far as farming goes. The chickens have been fine. They've been just going as it is because they're in a controlled climate”

Emerson said crops have been hit hard no matter where they’re situated.

“To where the row crops, anything that's on flat ground has been drowned out this year,” he said. “Everything on a hillside has done good until we had weather in 100 degrees and it's been a drought. This is the time when beans are putting on beans and corn is feeling the kernels, so you really got hit on both ends this year.”

Emerson said a revenue and expense disparity doesn’t help, either.

“It doesn't help when corn prices and crop prices in general have taken a big hit this year,” he said. “Input costs were still high this spring and now crop prices have dropped. Your input and crop prices ain't matching each other anymore.”

Emerson films the more interesting parts of his day.

“I try to make sure I film more of the entertaining parts of the job,” he said. “A small chore we have on the farm is when we're working on our shop. It's concrete floors. Anytime you're working in there, when equipment's getting moved around, you're always constantly sweeping the floor because you got dirt falling off of it and whatever. I may not film sweeping the floor 27 times a week. Since I'm in school, mainly every time I'm on the farm, it's being filmed because I need to keep content coming in.”

Situations vary as to whether Emerson does something to film it or film something he was going to do regardless.

“It's a mixed relationship between those two factors,” he said. “It really depends on the day and how it's going. If we're doing something simple like moving a tractor down the road from one farm to another, there may be no entertaining content there. You're just driving down the road. But what happens if the transmission blows out in the middle of the road, then it's: hey, let's go get the camera. It's film this whole hassle. It's sort of a go by the feel, but also usually do have a very good general idea what's going to be filmed.”

Emerson’s editing skills improved over time.

“When I first started the YouTube, it was the Christmas of my eighth grade year, and I'm a junior now in high school,” he said. “Almost three years ago, I started and I got going. I probably had 50 videos or so, and the videos are not as good as they are now. Practice takes time. Over the years, I’ve gotten better at it.”

Due to the fickle nature of social media banning some people for their age, Emerson is vague about some details of his life.

“I don't say I go to school in the YouTube videos and I don't tell my age,” he said. “It's because once I got started and got going a little bit and picked up some momentum and had a couple hundred subscribers, YouTube actually took the channel down for child safety. Because I was 14 years old driving a tractor. They pretty much said I was a bad influence.”

Emerson said it’s puzzling how he could be deemed a bad influence by doing work while other YouTubers can do almost anything, including one who purposely destroyed a vehicle.

“Nothing against him at all,” he said. “He's done nothing wrong. He makes content. He's got several million followers and he bought a Tesla truck. Pretty much his whole purpose of buying a Tesla truck was to destroy the thing. He put a bomb on the side of the truck. And then YouTube is like, I didn't see anything. Any social media platform is not in it for what's right or wrong. It's in it to make money.”

Emerson wants his followers to be educated and entertained.

“You got two different audiences,” he said. “You got people who are farmers that are watching it. For the people who are farmers, I want them to be able to watch it and enjoy it. They know similar struggles because they do it also to where they can watch it and enjoy it and have fun. Maybe they learn from us, and when they comment, we learn from them on stuff that they do.”

Emerson wants to teach the non-farmers with his content.

“For the people who are not farmers, it's more of to show where their food comes from,” he said. “I know people are going to say, well, the corn and soybeans that y'all grow, we can't eat it. So what's it going for? Well, that corn and soybeans will go to Purdue for feed for the chickens or be cow feed. It may not be direct food towards a human, but it's going to be food for an animal that a human will eventually eat. And to prove the point that farming ain't all fun and games and that we roll around in hundreds of thousands of dollars just having fun all summer long.”

Although Emerson’s family hasn’t fielded absurd complaints that have been heavily publicized such as livestock flatulence is bad for the environment, there is an aversion to fertilizer spills.

“We spread chicken litter on all our fields,” he said. “We live in a very rural area. If you even get up a bucket or just a shovel of litter on the road, it's awful. People get very upset. We had some Amish move in this summer, and now there's horse crap all down the road anyways, so the chicken litter don't sound too bad anymore when it's just one time a year.”

Emerson never fretted about recording himself.

“I never really thought about it,” he said. “If somebody was to write a comment right now and say, I hate you, I don't like what you do. I'm going to read it. I probably show it to my dad and be like, look what this person said. And then I'm going to go to bed and not lose a wink of sleep over it. I do what I do. If you don't like it, don't watch it.”

Emerson made his high school’s student morning news two years ago.

“When I started my freshman year high school, we had a new principal take over,” he said. “He really pushes towards doing the work and being committed to what you do and having a strong work ethic. He found out about the YouTube channel. We have what they call a morning show every day at the high school. It's a Zoom meeting and all the teachers log on with their big projectors and the class board. I ended up being on there for the YouTube channel because I went right along with what he was trying to preach. It just went from there to where the whole school knows about it now.”

Emerson rides motocross.

Emerson doesn’t get flack from his classmates for doing YouTube.

“Actually, a lot of people are supportive,” he said. “A lot of people don't have the guts to come hate on you straight to your face either.”

Emerson is getting a head start on college through a program at his school.

“It's called early college and they pay for you to go to college instead of doing high school classes,” he said. “It's college credits and it's free. I'm getting a head start on college already.”

Emerson became more outgoing through YouTube and attending events.

“The first year when I went to the farm shows, I can tell you for sure I was not,” he said. “The second year, I finally just told myself this is the game. You have to meet people and shake hands because that's how you grow. You learn to suck it up and you grow into it because it's the game you're playing now.”

Emerson also is a motocross racer.

“When I was younger, that was a big thing,” he said. “Me and my dad would travel around somewhat of the East Coast a little bit going to different races. I don't think we really drove anywhere over 10 hours one way for a race. That was probably the max. The kids that are professional dirt bike racers now, they've been at a training facility, working out and riding every day since they were 6 years old.”

Emerson could have pursued that route.

“I had an opportunity to do something like that,” he said. “I was still younger, and we had the farm. Like my mom always says, you want to race dirt bikes, you love it, but you really want to farm more than you race dirt bikes. I still race dirt bikes. It's my fun hobby because the farm has turned more into a job. I'll build tracks and have fun with it. I race a little local series in the wintertime when we're not as busy.”

Emerson’s dad Clifton appears frequently in the videos.

As with farming, Emerson was taking after his dad.

“It's basically called cross-country, but it's basically racing in the woods on 4-wheelers as he did that when he was a kid,” he said. “It's sort of just followed right in with me when I was old enough to start.”

Emerson doesn’t fear potential backlash from being open about his religious faith.

“I look at it this way: we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior,” he said. “We're Baptists. So as far as the Baptists believe, you know eventually when you die, you'll have your judgment with God. He's going to look at every sin, decision, everything you’ve ever done in your life. He's going to judge you for it. If I'm feeling on my heart to share His word on a video, I'd rather get hate on it from now than have to look at Him in the eyes and be like, I was too scared not to say anything.”

Emerson had a bumpy transition to getting on the AcresTV site.

“When I started with AcresTV back in April or so, they had some complications with getting me all set up on their website,” he said. “It's supposed to be a two-week waiting period to where I go silent on YouTube for about two weeks and then get started back up again and get going. It ended up taking about a couple months. When I started posting again, it's like I was a big beginner YouTuber, getting 100 views, 300, whatever.”

Having a backlog of material complicated the process for Emerson.

“It's sort of hard to edit because it's so far behind,” he said. “I had to film all planting season, but I never got rid of any footage because I didn't have anywhere to post it. It's hard to film when you're that far ahead because you don't know how to make the video flow. Hopefully come next year, the editing will be a lot better and it'll flow a lot better.”

Creating content keeps Emerson inspired.

“I really like making videos and if I can make something that's like a cool edit, it keeps me motivated,” he said. “I'm very self-disciplined as it is. But if I'm ever lacking motivation, all I got to think about is if this farming and YouTube doesn't work out, I'm gonna have to possibly get a job and it's gonna be like school and I gotta do this my whole life.”

Emerson’s YouTube earnings fall well short of the revenue from AcresTV.

“For me, if a video gets a thousand views, in theory it makes about $10,” he said. “YouTube pays per thousand views. I always want to know if my video gets 500 views, am I gonna make $3, $4. On average, I'll probably make $5 to $10. Normally, I do two a week.”

Emerson received a donation from a viewer, but the social media platform retained a sizable share.

“He gave me $100 and YouTube takes a royalty of that or a percentage,” he said. “In my opinion, it's bullcrap because it's my content. He's wanting to thank me. I always want to say, if you want to do Super Thanks, that's great but be aware, 40 percent to 30 percent of what you pay, it's not coming to me.”

Life on a farm doesn’t leave Emerson with much free time.

“The last time I played a video game was just for fun,” he said. “It was probably Christmas time (2023). I played strictly for fun because before that Christmas time, I hadn't picked up a video game for years. There ain't no time for video games around here.”

Emerson’s social life is limited.

“I don't go out during the week,” he said. “Do I go out on the weekends? If I do go out, most of the time, it's our family going out to eat in the afternoon after we've done our day's work Saturday morning.”

The job is never done at Emerson’s farm.

“The way the chickens work is you have five flocks a year,” he said. “These last couple years, it's been two weeks between each flock. Two weeks may sound great. I got two weeks off. In reality, that two weeks is I only got two weeks to get ready for new chickens. That's not any time at all to get ready for what we need to get done. Your whole off time is spent preparing for your next flock.”

Vacations aren’t a frequent occurrence for Emerson’s family.

“The last time we went on a vacation, we went to Disney World,” he said. “That was my sixth grade year, and I'm a junior now in high school. People don't understand. These people are going on vacation once or twice a year to the beach or whatever. We don't get that luxury. It's a sacrifice to be able to do what we have to do.”

Emerson offers advice to aspiring YouTubers.

“As far as the kids, they think it's cool, but it's hard to answer when they ask because it's probably just a phase,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to save up my money and buy a nicer laptop. I have a MacBook. Apple products are not cheap any way you go, but they're also the best. I tell them, commitment is the big key with YouTube. It's not I do it when I feel like it. It's a job. When you start, the job may not be paying jack squat, but eventually it may pay more than any other job you'll have in your life. For young kids, you have to be committed and willing to do it.”

Emerson said older people also should take content creation seriously.

“For the older people who are not farmers, it's the same thing,” he said. “I explain it more in depth to them. You need to do something you love and enjoy and have a passion for and you also have to be committed. Do your research. For example, my thing is farming. Watch your other farmers. I'm not saying you try to be better than them. I'm saying you try to be different than them and create a perspective that you can't get anywhere else.”

Emerson said people should pursue farming if it’s a passion, but be cognizant of the risk.

“My biggest motto to people is if you're looking at doing something like this, it's complicated,” he said. “It costs so much money to farm up front. With 100 acres to farm, you may be in it 50, 60 grand when everything's done, just to put a crop out. Then you start to buy tractors and combines and your semis. It's outrageous. When I say that much money, I'm talking like you're buying equipment that's 30, 40 years old. It's completely worn out and you're having to redo it. I'm not even talking about the new tractors. But I always say follow your passion and never give up. But one wrong move could put you in debt $100,000 and there's no way you can recover $100,000 for the next growing season.”

Emerson summed up his message.

“Follow your passion, never give up. But be smart, too.”

Emerson’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adventuresoffarmerking3180