Farm with Fred

Farm with Fred is a Kenyan limited company founded and directed by Fred Munene, a qualified agronomist from Chuka in eastern Kenya who graduated in agronomy in 2014. The company operates through three interconnected activities: commercial crop production on a farm in the Nairobi region, paid consultancy and training services for farmers, and content creation across social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, X, and TikTok. These activities are designed to reinforce one another: the farm generates content, the content builds an audience, and the audience generates consultancy and training clients.

The company has accumulated over 750,000 followers on its Facebook page and more than one million followers across all platforms combined. Farm with Fred has received direct messages from farmers in every country in Africa and from approximately 80% of countries worldwide. Revenue streams include farm produce sold to multiple local buyers at the farm gate, monthly payments from YouTube for content views (ranging from roughly €100 to €400 per month), and fees from consultancy and training. Consultancy clients include farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, and the Caribbean. The company also receives a monthly stipend through membership of the African Agri Influencer Network, a body supported by the Mastercard Foundation and Caribou Digital. Input suppliers provide free seeds, fertilisers, and crop protection products in exchange for visibility on the platform.

Farm with Fred trains farmers in good agricultural practices, covering soil health, crop nutrition, pest and disease management, variety selection, and market linkage. Munene conducts in-person farm visits, online group sessions, and provides farming plans to clients across the continent. He also delivers free training to youth groups who contact him through social media. The company employs a farm manager and farm workers drawn from the local community.

Munene's stated long-term goals include expanding a network of farmers who grow produce under the Farm with Fred methodology, developing a dedicated retail outlet stocking produce from that network, and building a free mobile application to distribute agronomic knowledge. He travels internationally to update his technical knowledge, having visited farming operations in Turkey and Ukraine, and describes soil productivity and continuous soil care as central to his understanding of good farming practice.