They’re farmers and you’ll know it: Peterson brothers bring their musical parodies to O.C. Fair farm talk

By Hannah FryStaff Writer

July 20, 2018 5:25 PM PT

The sun shines in the distance as the Peterson brothers — Greg, Nathan and Kendal — saunter through a field on their family farm near Assaria, Kan.

The unmistakable rhythm of LMFAO’s hit “Sexy and I Know It” begins to swell. But viewers quickly realize this isn’t a typical Hollywood-produced music video, or song, for that matter.

The words — “When I’m up at 7, the sunrise gives me a glimpse of heaven. I get right to work, a farmer’s life can be a little berserk, yeah” — are sung to the tune of the 2011 pop song.

The video, “I’m Farming and I Grow It,” posted in June 2012, began the brothers’ foray into creating parody songs and accompanying music videos about life on a farm.

“I’m Farming and I Grow It” was intended as a way to educate their city friends about farming. It went viral on YouTube and in two weeks received more than 5 million views from people in more than 200 countries.

After receiving such an overwhelming response, they decided to make more videos. They’re up to 13 so far, with titles such as “Farmer Style,” a spin on “Gangnam Style” by Psy, and “A Fresh Breath of Farm Air,” a parody of the theme song from the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

The hits kept rolling in and along with them offers for speaking engagements for the brothers to share their thoughts about agriculture and farming in the modern era, said Greg Peterson, 27.

This weekend, Nathan Peterson, 24, will join Greg in performing a few of their song parodies and discussing contemporary farming in the Millennium Barn at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa.

Greg said his brothers were a bit skeptical when he shared his idea for the first parody, which he jokes came to mind after “too many hours sitting on a tractor.” But they were swayed when he assured them they wouldn’t make farming look stupid. They’d make it look cool, he said.

“I think it really resonates with a lot of families and people who used to live on a farm and are now removed from it,” he said. “But I also think it made a lot of people think about farming for the first time. That’s a big part of why we keep going with it.”

OC Fair & Event Center spokeswoman Terry Moore said the show will pair nicely with this year’s fair theme, “Free Your Inner Farmer,” which is meant to celebrate Orange County’s agricultural roots and spotlight the fairgrounds’ pastoral tradition.

“The Peterson Farm Brothers have an authentic and fun way of showing how important farming still is to our lives,” Moore said.

Fair & Event Center Chief Executive Kathy Kramer first saw the brothers at an industry convention about a year ago. How perfect would it be, she thought, to bring actual farmers to perform at the fair.

“I literally could not wait,” she told a crowd at a Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce luncheon last month. “I went over to them and I said, ‘You’ve got to come to the O.C. Fair; we’ve got to figure out a way to connect.’”

“These parodies really connect an urban audience to the agriculture community in a fun, engaging way,” she added. “I do promise after watching one of those, you’ll want to sing along.”

Greg said the videos are a fun way to engage people and teach them more about the origins of their food.

The siblings have worked on the Kansas farm, which has been in the family for five generations and more than 100 years, since they were children — Kendal is now 22. They primarily raise beef cattle but also grow corn, alfalfa, wheat and soybeans.

“People don’t realize that a lot of the big farms out there are still just families, not corporations,” Greg said. “Working with your family, it becomes part of who you are. You start to recognize the importance of what you’re doing. You’re feeding people.”