DLG Agri Influencer Award 2026: Finalists Announced

The DLG (German Agricultural Society) has announced the finalists, who hail from Austria, France, Ireland, Turkey and Germany for the DLG Agri Influencer Award 2026. The award honors social media profiles that present agriculture in an authentic, professional, and relatable way while making an exceptional contribution to the sector's public outreach efforts. The initiative aims to strengthen dialogue between agriculture and society at large. The first, second, and third-place winners will be announced on 12 November at the award ceremony held at the Young Farmers Party at EuroTier 2026, the leading exhibition for livestock technologies.

The DLG agricultural influencers typically take their followers behind the daily scenes of modern farming, offering practical insights from the field, animal housing, and the tractor cab while engaging with the public, industry stakeholders and the media.

With the DLG Agri Influencer Award, DLG seeks to increase public awareness of the original work of these content creators, thereby supporting their communication efforts in the farming sector, DLG’s core focus. The international award has been presented annually since 2022.

"The fact that we are presenting the DLG Agri Influencer Award for the fifth time highlights just how important digital communication has become in agriculture," says Theresa Günther, Social Media Manager at DLG, a non-profit society dedicated to knowledge sharing among farmers. "For the DLG and the industry as a whole, the award sends a strong message: those who speak openly, honestly, and professionally about practical agriculture deserve recognition and support. We look forward to celebrating these profiles that inspire others to engage online and show what farming is really like."

The DLG Agri Influencer Award attracts a range of candidates from around the world.

"Once again, the jury has been impressed by the outstanding quality of the applications," says Heike Zeller, Chair of the Jury and managing director of aHEU. "It’s particularly encouraging to see how agricultural influencers and their followers connect across borders through social media, learning from and supporting one another. All applicants share the common goal of presenting agriculture as authentic, innovative, and full of opportunities, both to their own communities and to audiences with no agricultural background."

DLG Agri Influencer Award 2026 Finalists for the international category

Barış Aldemir @barisaldemir_ (99,300 followers on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook)
Barış Aldemir is a young farmer from Denizli, Turkey, who runs the family farm in the third generation, keeping dairy cattle and beef cattle. The jury particularly highlights the engaging content and his down-to-earth, friendly personality, which creates closeness and invites people to dive deeper into his feed.

Thierry Bailliet @AgriculteurdAujourdhui (172,600 followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok)
Thierry Bailliet and his sons run a farm (Loos-en-Gohelle, France) growing specialty crops, doing arable farming, producing energy, partly farming organically, and offering agritourism. The jury stresses his charismatic personality and his close connection to the farming community.

Sophie Bell @sophie_bell__ (118,300 followers on Instagram and Facebook)
Sophie Bell runs a dairy farm near Dublin with her family. On Instagram, she shows her everyday life in great variety, from changing tractor tyres and milking to attending events and sharing thoughts on living and working in agriculture as a young, publicly active woman from a small farm. The jury was pulled into her feed by her varied topics and different types of content, all carried by skilful storytelling and a positive, strong personality.

DLG Agri Influencer in German 2026

Simon Donhauser @papi.donhauser (33,100 followers on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube)
Simon Donhauser lives and works on his farm (Kümmersbruck, Bavaria), where he runs a sow herd, piglet rearing and pig fattening. In his videos he covers technical topics such as feeding, animal health and barn technology, but also investment, bureaucracy and social expectations. The jury highlights the good mix of videos and info tiles, as well as his commitment to giving a face to the enormous pressure in his industry.

Stephan Kutscheid @stephan.landwirtschaft (217,100 followers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube)
Stephan Kutscheid and his family live in Central Hesse (Dornburg-Frickhofen) and run arable farming, grassland farming and cattle rearing. The jury is convinced that he is passionate about farming and that, even in acute stress situations such as a storm causing serious damage on his farm, he keeps calm and takes his followers along authentically.

Katharina Schmitt @katharinastt (33,300 followers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube)
Katharina Schmitt is a student of agriculture, who works on two family farms in Styria with arable farming, specialty crops and direct marketing. The jury is impressed by the overall package and the high quality achieved through elaborate editing and varied camera angles; yet the film never comes across as a promotional piece, but rather feels relaxed and personal.

This year's Agri Influencer Award is sponsored by Josera GmbH and Schippers GmbH.