SALEM — Though he’s amassed nearly 1 million followers on social media, Derrick Josi insists he is not special.

Josi, a fourth- generation dairy farmer in Tillamook, Ore., began posting blogs and videos online in 2016 to fight back against what he says is misinformation about his industry being spread by radical environmentalists and animal rights groups.

Seven years later, Josi’s plainspoken and offhand style has allowed him to cultivate a significant audience on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, where he offers viewers a glimpse of day-to-day life on the farm.

“Anybody can do what I do online,” Josi said during his keynote presentation at the 53rd annual Northwest Ag Show on Jan. 19. “It just takes time to learn what you’re doing, and you have to be willing to put up with a lot of idiots.”

Otherwise, Josi said he’s just like any other dairy farmer. He wakes up at 3 a.m. to milk cows, and also grows his own corn and grass silage to keep the animals fed.

But farmers like him can no longer afford to be reclusive, Josi said. They need to be proactive, sharing their stories and explaining why they do what they do. Sometimes that means delving into difficult topics, like artificial insemination or weaning calves from their mothers.

“If we want to keep the social license that we have to farm, we need to be able to talk about the hard topics,” he said. “That’s what I do on my page.”

Josi named his page “TDF Honest Farming” — shortened from “Tillamook Dairy Farmer” — uploading short videos directly from his cellphone. One day, he might be sitting at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Another day, he might be in the driver’s seat of his tractor, or wrangling a cow that’s managed to escape from the barn.

“All I do is talk about what I do on the farm,” he said. “If my cows get out, that’s what’s going to be shown.”

Being highly visible on the internet comes with its critics and detractors. For Josi, he often finds himself drawing the ire of activists who feel the dairy industry, and animal agriculture more broadly, are both cruel and harmful to the environment.

That has led to threats and online bullying, which Josi acknowledged can be hard for some people to handle.

“I’ve had people threaten to put a bullet in my head. That was a unique experience,” he said. “You have to have a unique personality to be able to deal with that.”

On the other hand, Josi said consumers need to hear directly from farmers and ranchers to avoid having a skewed or lopsided understanding of the issues.

“We have to be in the public sphere talking about things, or else we are going to go extinct,” Josi said.

Social media is not for everyone, but Josi said there are many ways that producers can conduct outreach with the public, whether it be hosting farm tours, participating in local Farm Bureau chapters or testifying on the record before lawmakers.

“It takes thousands of us combatting (misinformation),” Josi said. “A lie will travel faster around the world than the truth gets out of bed.”

To learn more about Derrick Josi and TDF Honest Farming, visit https://tdfhonestfarming.com/

The Northwest Ag Show will continue Friday at the Oregon State Fair and Expo Center in Salem. The hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission and parking are free.