“Not many people know where their food comes from,” she said. “I want to bridge the gap between ag and the consumer.”
To better educate consumers, the ambitious teenager launched Kate’s Ag - Farm to Fashion to highlight her family’s farming efforts and show the many hands and steps required to deliver clothing to doorsteps. Kate Stephens Fashion connects the dots between the producer, the manufacturer, and ultimately, the customer. She recently expanded her YouTube channel to include interviews describing the evolution of other ag products as well.
In 1912, Kate’s great grandfather immigrated from Denmark and homesteaded in north central Montana. Kate picked up the mantle from a very early age. She’s worked alongside her father since she was two but stepped up to a new level of participation when she was a mere 15 years old.
“My grandfather, Robert E. Stephens, Sr., who is 95, asked me if I’d like to run the combine,” she said.
She was immediately hooked, but it wasn’t without a few glitches along the way such as losing a wheel on her combine at the end of harvest. She laughed and said she just gave the combine more gas until she realized what happened.
“I fell in love with driving the combine and being part of the Montana harvest and telling everyone how wonderful it made me feel,” she said.
She soon realized the people she shared her story with couldn’t wrap their heads around the process. While many knew bread was made from wheat, there was no true understanding of how wheat in a field eventually yielded a loaf of bread.
This inspired the creation of iPhone videos to illustrate the process of planting, harvesting, and eventually producing food on their farm, as well as on other operations. Now, over 100,000 subscribers and approximately eight million people from around the world watch her adventures in the cab of the combine or join her in the multitude of tasks required daily on any Montana farm or ranch.
The videos on Kate’s Ag - Farm to Fashion channel give viewers a glimpse into the year of a farmer. From seeding to harvesting and the trials and tribulations of driving new equipment — including the farm semi — Kate depicts how food is produced with frankness and humor.
She also offers a unique perspective of the Montana landscape. In one video, she points out a covered barley pile a grizzly bear had tore into for a snack, and in another, she slows the combine to a crawl to avoid hitting baby pheasants. Of course, weather is always a factor as well and whether it’s working in the bitter cold and wind or drought and excessive heat, Kate explains how Mother Nature dictates the success or failure of the season.
Beyond gaining a better understanding of ag through the videos, a journey through her YouTube channel shows Kate’s growth and increased confidence as both a farmer and agriculture advocate. It also provides a foundation for her designs which embody the concept of “farm to fashion.”
Kate’s first design effort was a heavy-duty cotton tote bag. Merging function and form, the white tote is adorned with a wheat design created from a photo she took on the farm. To support U.S. jobs, all of Kate’s Ag products are made in the country, which was a key consideration for her next product. Delving into a more sophisticated style, she spent the next year and a half completing the design and sourcing the materials for a cowhide handbag handcrafted by New York artisans. The elegant design features farm-influenced elements such as a wheat pattern cotton interior lining and a metal combine harvester decoration on the exterior flap.
She donated her first handbag to the Montana Farmer’s Union auction to support their efforts and was delighted when it sold for $1,600. She also flew to Denver to speak at their annual conference about furthering the connection between producers and consumers.
Her latest creation is a cotton t-shirt which features the Kate’s Ag logo on the left chest or sleeve. On each shirt, a QR code offers the purchaser the path of the product from the cotton fields in North Carolina to the cotton gin and the manufacturer before reaching the customer.
“It’s about knowing who you are supporting in the farming business,” she said, pointing out that having the knowledge of each step, which often involves other farming families, adds another level of appreciation for products worn or consumed.
Continuing her course to educate as many people as possible about the journey of their food or fashion from field to home, Kate recently began attending Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Science in New York to pursue a degree in communications with a minor in agriculture and soil science.
“My number one priority, no matter what I’m doing, is to support my community,” she concluded.
For more information or to follow Kate, check out Kate’s Ag - Farm to Fashion on YouTube. Visit Kate’s Ag (katesag.com) and Kate Stephens (katestephens.com) online to view and purchase designs.
