Derrick Josi is a dairy farmer in Tillamook.

It’s hard not to like Derrick Josi. His deadpan delivery, his plain-spoken manner and his self-effacing sense of humor have made him one of the major voices for agriculture on social media.

Upward of a million followers go to his TDF Honest Farming sites for the latest about his Tillamook dairy farm and his thoughts on ag-related news.

But more than anything, it’s about his cows. He even wears a sweatshirt with the motto “Cows Make Me Happy” on the front.

When a cow wanders off, he coaxes her back to where she should be. He notes with a certain level of irony that cows occasionally will choose to hang out in the dirt even when acres of beautiful green grass are available.

For anyone who has been around a dairy farm, this is common knowledge, but for anyone not lucky enough to live on a farm, it’s a different world.

And that’s where Josi excels. He resists the temptation to romanticize farming. Instead, he tells it like it is, using equal helpings of facts, humor and an occasional in-your-face response to the activists that attack animal agriculture.

Social media is the Wild West. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and a dozen other platforms are populated by crackpots whose only goal is to lash out. They lash out at private citizens, at politicians, at companies and, alas, at farmers.

The ignorance they display and their selectivity when it comes to “facts” are astounding. They attempt to speak with authority about farming and animal agriculture — except that farmers who see their posts know they are just spouting off in an effort to promote their points of view.

When someone like Josi comes along who is willing to set them straight or to demonstrate what farmers do and why, it’s a breath of fresh air.

People respond to Josi, and to the growing number of other farmers who have taken to social media to talk about their operations and what, exactly, happens on the farm.

Some are funny. A post called “Field Rows” features a north Florida farmer and his adventures. Among the silliness, though, is lots of information about growing peanuts and cotton.

The Peterson Farm Brothers in central Kansas have made a name for themselves by producing ag-centric parodies of music videos. Our favorite: “Crop Dusters,” a takeoff on “Ghostbusters.”

Shay Myers at Owyhee Produce in Oregon and Idaho offers a master class on everything you ever wanted to know about onions.

Other farmers are joining the social media army, offering education, insights and entertainment that serve to let their followers see behind the scenes at farms and processors how food is produced. It’s a great story to tell and is the envy of the world.

Josi’s phenomenal success is uncommon, but it shows that folks are hungry not only for the food U.S. farmers produce, but for the straight story on how it is raised.

When it comes to social media, the more the merrier. All it takes is a smartphone, a story to tell and a bit of imagination. And a sense of humor.