In tractor-crazy North, these influencers are in the driver’s seat

In tractor-crazy North, these influencers are in the driver’s seat

What is common between the streets of Rome, Brussels and Haryana’s Shambhu border? The ubiquitous tractor. Once considered a sign of grunt work, it has become a symbol of farm protests today in Europe and India. As ‘tractorcades’ make headlines and demand for tractors increase, tractor influencers are becoming important stakeholders in this world (and raking in the moolah while they’re at it).

India is the world’s largest market for tractors, and manufacturers, making popular tractor YouTubers the Shah Rukh Khans of this world. They are wooed by manufacturers and customers alike, using their expertise and access to explain features of tractors, review new products, even give suggestions on product changes that the market might demand. Many are a vital link between manufacturers and farmers, especially given Indian farmers are a diverse group with different socio-economic conditions.

As the ignition purrs to life, ’80s Bollywood hit ‘Papa kehte hain…’ fills the air. The camera zooms in on a red tractor exploring the vehicle from various angles. Before you scoff and scroll further, sample this: The video has over 2.6 lakh views and @TractorGyan, the YouTube channel hosting it, has 10 lakh subscribers across platforms. Active on various social media platforms, it provides comparative pricing and features of tractors with videos that explain details like horsepower and brakes.

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Co-founder Shivankur Gupta says the idea is to provide reliable, easy to understand information to farmers. Gupta’s interest in the subject was sparked when he saw his father work as a tractor dealer near Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior, where he would often hear stories of confused farmers being scammed into paying higher amounts for agri-equipment by other dealers. “Unlike cars, there is no clear pricing for secondhand tractors and many farmers are unaware of how much the tractor has been used or how to assess the vehicle,” he says.

YouTuber Pardeep Kumar says that his foray into the industry was by fluke. In 2017, he made a video of a tractor that was stuck and being pulled out of a mud track. The video got thousands of views and Kumar was hooked. His interactions with those involved in agriculture made him realise that they needed information but didn’t know who to ask. “Farmers want information on mileage or performance. They spend hours on the tractor, so issues like comfort come up,” says the creator behind the channel @VideoBhandar.

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Unnoticed by many in urban centres, tractor sales hit a record high of 9.4 lakh in 2022-23, up 12% from the previous year, as per industry estimates. This does not account for secondhand tractor sales. The overall market size is estimated to be $2.37 billion in 2024.

This has not gone unnoticed — major manufacturers like Mahindra and Escort Kubota seek the help of influencers to reach out to a growing customer base. Mahindra, for instance, engaged with some of the country’s top agri YouTubers for the launch of its light-weight tractor called Mahindra OJA. In August last year, they flew influencers to South Africa’s Cape Town for the launch. The OJA has new-age features related to robotics and precision, which are new to Indian farming. These are meant to increase the efficiency of a tractor, as well as overall productivity on farmland. Escorts Group heir Navya Naveli Nanda too has spoken in an interview about the growing clout that influencers enjoy in this sector and their role in boosting sales.

Clearly, business is lucrative enough to draw in people from all walks of life. Kumar, whose channel boasts 12.2 lakh subscribers, is a Delhi-based graphic artist, who uses weekends to make videos, while Lokesh Tiwari, who has 1.3 lakh subscribers on his channel @Tiwarijikilife, is a software engineer who worked in Bengaluru and Indore before switching professions. Tiwari comes from a farming family based out of Uttar Pradesh’s Daulatpur village. His trips home made him realise how farmers in his village continued to stagnate while the country was progressing. “There is so much technological progress around us but there haven’t been incremental changes in the farmers’ life. In 2021, I put a tractor video on the channel and it received 2,000 views. That made me sit up and take notice,” he says, pointing out he knew nothing about tractors back then. “My nephew and I would go to showrooms over the weekend to understand the products. Some showroom owners would drive us away, while others really helped us,” he says.

medium107815881Most influencers travel across the country on the invitation of manufacturers to review and assess products at agri fairs that feature new technological and innovative changes in tractor tech. Gupta says that Indian farms are barely mechanised, leaving significant scope for growth. “We have barely tapped 1% of the market,” he says.

Ravi Sidhu from @TractorFans has seen this growth in a very personal way. A farmer from Rajasthan’s Sangaria, he grew wheat and mustard on his fields. He realised that farm income would never be enough to sustain his family. In 2015, he decided to ape some videos he had seen online. His tractor videos prompted manufacturers to reach out to him and the rest is history. Sidhu’s channel has grown to 8.7 lakh subscribers prompting him to ditch the farm and instead start his own business of agricultural implements in Punjab’s Barnala. “When you live in a village you believe that it is the entire world. But in the last few years my outlook towards life has changed. I own a house, a car. None of this would have been possible without the channel,” he says.

Nearly all influencers admit that the largest audience for their videos is in Punjab and Haryana where people are obsessed with tractors. Sidhu says, “People in Punjab are crazy about tractors. They will even spend Rs 10 crore on one. Some have 100-150 tractors.”

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