Free Video Editing Software for Farm Videos

In our webinar, DIY Farm Videos, we talked about these tools you can use to help you edit, optimize, and share your own farm videos online.

There are a million video editing options out there—everything from free in-phone apps to professional software suites. These are two free options that are great for beginner and intermediate video makers who don’t want to spend a lot of time in front of a screen.

On a Mac

If you’re using a Mac computer, you can use iMovie to edit your farm videos, which comes built into the Mac operating system. iMovie is a widely-used program that has plenty of support information available. Check out online user guides, forums, and video tutorials as you get started! See an overview of how it works in our farm videos webinar at the 14min : 45sec mark.

OpenShot

OpenShot is free, open-source software you can use to edit your farm videos on PC or Mac. Download OpenShot for free at openshot.org and get started!

Check out our quick tutorial:

Sharing Your Video

You’ve finished editing and exporting your farm video. Now it’s time to put it in front of your audience!

Hosting & Cross-Posting

In our webinar, we mentioned that it does matter where you upload your videos once you’re ready to share. We think it’s always a good idea to post to all your networks, but we recommend using Youtube as a “home base” for all of your farm tour videos for these reasons:

Each video on Youtube has its own real web address, which means you’ll be able to share it, link it, and embed it wherever you need. It’s easy to embed your Youtube video on your website, whether it’s on Squarespace, GrazeCart, WordPress, Weebly, Wix or most any other platform.
Youtube has opportunities to optimize your video for discoverability using text descriptions. Use Google-friendly words and phrases when describing your video to increase your chances of it finding your intended audience. It helps to include your location (both the name of your town, state, and region within the state), what you produce (i.e. “grass-fed dairy”), and more general terms like “organic farming,” “sustainable agriculture,” and “family farm.”
People tend to watch more of the actual video on Youtube, whereas on Facebook they might see it auto-play in their feed for a few seconds, but will keep scrolling.

Sharing to Instagram

To upload the video to Instagram directly, you’ll need a copy of the video on your mobile phone. You can export a smaller file size version of your final, edited video and email it to yourself. Just make sure you export it in MP4 format—that’s the only file type Instagram will allow.

You can also use a third-party app to download your video from Youtube, format it, and then upload it to Instagram.

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by Kelsey Kobik

More Farm Video Resources

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Ideas for Farm Videos (with Examples!)

Here are some ideas and examples to set you on your way to easily composing your own shareable farm videos.

DIY Farm Tour Videos

We recently hosted a webinar for the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition about filming, editing, and sharing your own videos about your farm business using just your phone and free software. Check out the full recording!

Affordable Gear for Farm Videos

We recommend the following accessories to improve video quality of farm videos you record on your smartphone. You can get everything on this list for less than $200.

Free Video Editing Software for Farm Videos

Here are some free tools you can use to help you edit, optimize, and share your own farm videos online, including a demo of how to use OpenShot.

Ten Tips for Making Your Own Farm Videos

Here are our ten quick tips for making the most of your phone’s capabilities. All of these tips are loosely geared towards one goal: making it easy for your viewers to keep watching, and to absorb the content you’ve worked hard to produce without distraction.