Pat Spinosa’s ‘Like a Farmer’ Podcast Is Making Rural America Cool Again
by REBEKAH PIERCE
If Pat Spinosa could say one thing about the goal of his now famous podcast, “Like a Farmer,” it would be this: “I want to make farming cool again.”
He admits (happily), that rural America is starting to become trendy again. “Rural America isn’t just a place,” he clarifies. “It’s a lifestyle. The lifestyle we want to represent [on our podcast] is cool again. Everyone wants to wear cowboy boots, drive a pickup, listen to country music…Beyonce, Post Malone, it’s all cool again. It’s popular.”
This renaissance, he believes, started to happen right around the time of the COVID-19 lockdowns, when more people wanted to get outdoors and learn how to be self-sufficient.
The podcast, however, started long before these changes ever started taking place.
A Background in Agriculture
Spinosa has a storied history in farming. When asked about his origins, he laughs, saying “We’ve actually had an argument in my family,” referring to how long the family has been involved in agriculture.
The general consensus? They’ve been in agriculture for about six generations. Hailing from a Polk County citrus and cattle farming family, Spinosa has agriculture running through his veins. It only made sense to start a podcast featuring conversations centered around it.
He started working with his sponsor, AgAmerica, in 2016, to create the Like a Farmer podcast. The podcast’s mission is twofold: to celebrate farmers and to educate people.
“There are 60 million people living in rural America,” he says. “But it’s the people outside of rural America that need to be educated. We need to have food for the coming years, but more importantly, we also need more people in agriculture.”
He cites well-publicized statistics that indicate that our farming population is getting older each year. As of 2024, more than a third of American farmers are older than 65.
To Spinosa, that’s unacceptable. “We can’t depend on other countries to feed us. We turn on the TV and [hear people talking about] a lot of issues, but not enough of it is agriculture-related.”
We’re losing thousands of farms every single year. “If we don’t shine light on that, we’re going to have an issue.”
But the great thing about agriculture, he counters, is that it’s universal. “Everybody has to eat. It’s one of the few bipartisan subjects in the world. It’s a necessity for every single person.”
He harkens back to the time of COVID, when we all locked in on the term “essential worker.” “We did such a beautiful job recognizing first responders, doctors, policemen, firefighters,” he says. “But farmers need to sit close to the top of that list, too. They’re also essential workers. Farmers are essential workers and we need to support them, from the top to the bottom.”
An Unlikely Ally
Spinosa sees the importance of agriculture every single day. His grandfather still goes to the farm to work every day, as do his mom and older brother — three generations still working together. He’s had a first row seat not just to the excitement farming holds, but also the adversity.
“That’s where my passion comes from,” He admits. “And that’s where my eyes started to open up. There’s a story to be told here.”
Having a story to tell is one thing, but having the platform to do it is another. And that’s where Spinosa’s partners come in. In addition to the podcast sponsor, AgAmerica, he also has a powerful ally to get his message across: none other than Josh Allen, quarterback for the Buffalo Bills football team.
“I’m super blessed and lucky to have a partner in Josh,” Spinosa tells me. “He’s done such a great job on the football field, but what he does off the field for the agriculture community is overlooked.” A farmer himself back in California, Allen has done a great job representing the “rural America lifestyle,” Spinosa says.
Making Farming Cool Again
The podcast isn’t just about farmers, Spinosa clarifies, but about a lifestyle.
“It’s hard work, grit, learning how to face adversity. Getting up Sunday at 5 a.m. … whether you’re a country musician, athlete, YouTube sensation, or a farmer. Anybody who wants to work and has that trait ingrained in them.”
Spinosa’s message to anybody who listens to the podcast is to get involved. Get involved with local organizations, whether they’re specific commodity groups or nationwide organizations like Farm Bureau. “We’ve got to continue to farm in our own country,” he emphasizes, and education is the way to do this.
“Like a Farmer is just one podcast,” he continues, but it certainly won’t be the last. Spinosa and Allen have partnered with AgAmerica to start a network, AgAmerica Media Company, that plans to release two new shows by the end of this year.
“We want this to be the place,” he says. “Rural America’s network. We want you to be able to come to AgAmerica Media and have content that really covers all the pillars we call Rural America.”
Want to get involved? Give the podcast a listen and don’t be afraid to give Spinosa a shout if you have any ideas for new guests. He’s passionate about farming, showcasing the people in Rural America, and giving them a platform.
“If we told our farmers, ‘Hey, just stop working, turn off the tractors,’ it would take three to five weeks and we would be starving as a country,” he says. “No matter how hard life is, you have to get the job done. We have to uplift these people.”
With the podcast, Spinosa and Allen are doing just that – and having a grand ole’ time in the process.
“This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Spinosa says, and you can practically hear the grin in his voice.
