Nina Kleine (@Hof_zur_Haskenau) is our Influencer
Last month, AgriTechnica hosted not only the Women in Ag Awards, but also the Agri-Influencer Awards. A quick scroll through the winners in many categories revealed that there was just one woman among them and, since it is our mission to highlight the achievements of women in agriculture, she is our guest in this “Influencer” section. Meet Nina Kleine!
Nina Kleine is a farmers’ granddaughter who grew up in animal husbandry in rural Germany. Today, she not only co-manages her partners’ farm, but also runs the popular accounts ‘Hof zur Haskenau’ that boast over 41K followers on Instagram, 11K on Facebook and 1731 on TikTok. Determined to raise awareness for agriculture, she uses her platforms to educate the public about life on the farm.
Hi Nina, please introduce yourself!
My name is Nina Kleine, I am 27 years old and I was born in Lippborg, a small village in the district of Soest (western Germany, red.). I have been living in Münster for four years now. I moved in here with my partner Willi after completing my Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics in Soest. We live here on his parents’ farm that specialises in turkey fattening and arable farming, which we manage together. There are a total of four stables with around 12,500 turkeys, which are kept in ‘Haltungsform 2’ (Haltungsform 2 is a German animal welfare standard, meaning the turkeys are kept in an indoor barn with space and enrichment, red.). We grow grain, maize and potatoes in the fields. I do a lot of public relations work in agriculture and poultry farming and am currently continuing my education with a certificate course on poultry at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.
Tell us more about your geographical location.
The farm is located in Münster, a scenically diverse region with wide fields, small forests, many farmsteads and a typical park-like cultural landscape. Our area is rural, but not isolated: Münster itself is a lively, medium-sized city, and the surrounding area is moderately densely populated. We have mild winters here, rather cool summers and relatively high rainfall. These conditions favour grassland, forage production and versatile arable farming, but increasingly present us with challenges due to weather extremes such as long periods of rain or dry summers. All these factors have a significant impact on our operations: we rely on robust crop rotations to cope with changing conditions.
The proximity to the city of Münster opens up good opportunities for us in direct marketing and public relations. At the same time, we want to show what modern agriculture means today. On social media, we share insights into everyday life on the farm, explain decisions relating to animal husbandry and arable farming and actively respond to questions from consumers. The mixture of rural production region and urban environment creates an ideal setting for this: proximity to the consumer, but also enough space for sustainable agricultural practices.
How did you get into agriculture?
I spent most of my childhood at my grandparents’ bull farm in Lippborg. I grew up there with lots of animals, so I always wanted to do something with animals and that’s how I came to study agriculture. Unfortunately, my average grade was not good enough for veterinary medicine, which in hindsight I’m quite happy about because that is how I switched to agriculture – even though I’m still very interested in veterinary medicine and animal health.
When did you decide to share online about agriculture, and why this decision?
That was at the end of 2023, when we posted our first post on Instagram – a panoramic picture of our farm. In the future, we would like to market a small proportion of our turkeys directly from the farm. We had considered this in order to increase the added value of the company and, with its close location to Münster, we saw good opportunities in it. At the time, I thought we would start with an online presence for marketing. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to market any turkeys directly yet because the requirements here in Germany are very high and the process is taking some time. However, we have continued to develop our Instagram channel and it is now very important to us to educate people about modern animal husbandry in particular, because we have noticed that many things are unclear for the general public and there are many prejudices about agriculture.
“we realize how far society has moved away from agriculture”
Tell us more about your social media accounts: what do you talk about, how do you communicate, what’s the goal of your sharing online about agriculture?
We have Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and really just take our community with us in our everyday life on the farm. We show what we do every day and then explain it. If there are a lot of questions about a topic, we will go into it in more detail. We mostly communicate via videos because they are best received and are played out better by the algorithm than pictures. Sometimes I write, sometimes I talk, just as it suits me.
Our aim is to educate people about agriculture, but especially about poultry farming in Germany. As a consumer, you can hardly find any direct information from farmers unless you follow and read the usual agricultural journals. Based on the comments and news we receive, we realize how far society has moved away from agriculture. You can reach a lot of people quickly via social media, so we think it’s a good first step to bring the agricultural industry closer to many consumers and show them what we do every day.
How do you respond to negative comments/perception towards ag in the comment section of your posts?
I respond to negative criticism by informing and using fact-based arguments. If someone truly becomes offensive, I block them immediately. We are in favour of an open exchange where everyone can put forward their arguments and discuss them. However, when someone has an extreme reaction, this is often not possible because they are so attached to their own opinion that they do not accept any other point of view. Which is a shame, in my opinion! Even when I see critical comments under other videos, I try to position myself objectively.
Do you feel you have changed the way people see agriculture because of what you shared?
Yes, I do believe that. I have already received messages from consumers saying that they had no idea how turkeys are kept and that they were pleasantly surprised.
Do you notice differences in perception towards women (compared to men) in agriculture or online? How do you handle those?
Yes, unfortunately I notice the differences quite clearly in agriculture. I am often asked: “Are you really working in a turkey barn?”. It is assumed that the work is too hard and that the (male) partner does everything alone. I think people often don’t mean any harm when they make such statements. I can also see that there are big differences in perception online. I always have the feeling that I have to prove myself more than my partner.
If you could give young women who dream of a career in agriculture a piece of advice, what would it be?
That you can achieve anything you set your mind to. We can be just as entrepreneurial as men. And what I sometimes find difficult myself is standing up for myself and being confident about my abilities, so I would tell them to dare to be assertive and believe they are capable.
If you could give other farmers/people in ag who want to share about their work online a piece of advice, what would that be?
Just do it! You learn so quickly and honest, authentic content is so much more interesting for people than the most beautiful high-quality image reels.
Follow Hof zur Haskenau:
On Facebook
On Instagram
On TikTok
This article was published in Women in Ag Magazine 2025-004. Click here to read the magazine.
