It’s Sunday, I’m sat doing a bit of admin and I may possibly be enjoying a glass of grown up grape juice, kids are outside in the apple and plum tress gorging themselves on fruit. I love this time of year, the kids self feed, winner!
So at Out and About this week will officially kick off turkey selling season, the prices are set and will be uploaded to the website, the letters to our stockists will be prepared and applications for farmers markets completed. Like it or not Christmas is on its way.
But something else is happing this week, Wednesday 12th September is the NFU’s Back British Farming day. It’s a dedicated day on social media where farmers and others connected to the agricultural industry talk about what they do, why they do it and why they love it. It’s aim, to connect the public with how their food is produced and ask them to back farmers in these uncertain times.
So whilst looking for inspiration about what I would like to say on Back British Farming day, I was flicking through my Instagram feed and I came across a lady who cleans her house and videos it. Very random, what ever floats your boat, nothing wrong with that. This is why I love Instagram, because there is something for everyone. Over 172,000.00 people (and counting) watch this lady clean her house and then these people buy the cleaning products she uses, in turn crashing these companies websites as the demand for their product is so high.
Having looked at some of the social media accounts of who I would call high profile farmers or those with a strong presence, they don’t even have half the amount of followers that the cleaning lady has.
So I sit here and ask myself, why on earth do the people of Great Britain connect more with a lady who cleans her home daily, than a farmer combining fields to produce the wheat that makes their toast or milking the cow so they can have a cup of tea? Why do people feel more inspired to go out and buy a whole load of branded cleaning products from large corporate companies because they have seen someone else use them, rather than support a small family run business who’s products could be just as good or better.
How have we got to a point that we would favour watching someone bleach a U bend over baby lambs, cute chicks or an awesome piece of farm machinery in action?
This is not a witch hunt or an anti cleaning campaign, I would love this lady to clean my farm hovel, her house looks immaculate, I would happily let her video it as well! Maybe not the U bend bit, pretty sure there is something alive down there!
But I am going to throw this one out to you all, what on earth do farmers need to do to help people connect with them and to drive the type of following that a lady polishing her stainless steel sink can command. Why would the public of Great Britain rather watch someone clean than understand where there food came from or what went into growing it.
My final thought, if those people who were buying the cleaning products this lady was using all showed their local farmers the same loyalty, farming would be in a much different place.
Now off to go and drink some gin and polish my butler sink, jokes, I’m just going to drink gin, dust and mud is country chic…
Jade x
I suppose the reason the account you mentioned attracts so many followers, is because a lot of them will believe they can achieve the same results. Personally, I find the array of chemicals she is using a little disturbing, but each to their own. Also the lady in question began using cleaning as a way of dealing with mental health issues. Good for her, that she found something that helps, but most of her followers aren’t going to have her ‘dedication’ to the tasks. I find your Instagram feed far more interesting. It is really reassuring seeing how much care and attention you give to your birds, and this is why I would always buy from you. As people are becoming more interested in where their food comes from, perhaps it won’t be too long before local farmers get the following they deserve.