A farmers life for me!

aardvaak

Does anyone else watch this BBC2 program?

miss_corerupted

no when is it on sounds good

LJM

i watched the first one and as of yet not had time to wach anymore but they are still on iplayer at the moment

scotsaver

I've watched it every week and loved it, a real mixture of couples on there with different dreams.;)

Lotus-eater

I tried to watch it, but didn't like the gameshowyness of it.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I tried to watch it, but didn't like the gameshowyness of it.

I'm with you on this Lotus 'cheeky butt' Eater:p

They set all these challenges, which might not be relevent to how they want to farm.

They win a year on a farm, to me by the time you have done the work its time to go:rotfl:

I can remember Jimie's farm starting, and now all of a sudden he is a flipping expert.... I bet people who have been farming all their lives... love him:eek::rotfl:

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

They win a year on a farm, to me by the time you have done the work its time to go:rotfl:

Oh yes.....you don't ''farm'' for a year....you manage land this year for next year often enough!

I can remember Jimie's farm starting, and now all of a sudden he is a flipping expert.... I bet people who have been farming all their lives... love him:eek::rotfl:

Farming columnists often aren't farmers how we think of them either. One I know lives in London and owns a non traditional aggri business in N.Ireland. I think he's even been there once. And the organic farmer who is actually a landowner who leases out his land and collects rent.


The difficult thing is it IS hard to get into farming, farms aren't cheap, running them for those first few years can be crippling,council farms are being sold off and tenancies are few and far between. For those that have been in farming and can leverage aganst their land to get more, being a landowner is one thing. You can't buy the equipment of your own so need contractors, and they are not cheap...although this year I learnt they we're cheaper where we used to live.

I watched the first one and decided it was a bit of a busman's holiday....we're already staggaring from one job to the next barely keeping up and spending a fortune for v.little gain. without the benefit of the free use of a tractor for a few hours!:o

GreenFly_2

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I tried to watch it, but didn't like the gameshowyness of it.

I agree there was too much emphasis on the tasks and not on what we all want to see ... How to grow stuff and raise animals!

aardvaak

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I tried to watch it, but didn't like the gameshowyness of it.

I agree with you too much like all these vote um off programs, as far as I've seen playing around and no actual proper farming.

Too much marketing no real farming and growing things.

The last program the 'weeks winners' were judged as taking the most money after buying £270 of burgers and then selling them in a market for £240 no question of profit or in this case loss - and they were the winners!

Linda32

aardvaak wrote: »

I agree with you too much like all these vote um off programs, as far as I've seen playing around and no actual proper farming.

Too much marketing no real farming and growing things.

The last program the 'weeks winners' were judged as taking the most money after buying £270 of burgers and then selling them in a market for £240 no question of profit or in this case loss - and they were the winners!

I've been watching it, but its starting to get silly now. Has anyone noticed that its just like The Apprentice, I'm sure the presenter who you hear but don't see is the same bloke as well.

The people who came in second actually "invented" the meal deal, which involved them cooking one item (can remember what it was now), then going to the cash and carry and buying coke and crisps to sell on :rotfl: Give me strength !!!!!

Yet, it was still within the rules.

Not sure how practical it would be, but I liked the idea at the start of the show where one couple had the idea of serviced allotments.

The "farmer" farms the allotments with traditional allotment fayre, punter rents the allotment, but dosn't have to do any gardening, just picks food when ready.

rhiwfield

I take on board all the negative comments.

But the theme running through the programme is not so much how to farm, but how to make a living from a farm, so the marketing and sales element holds true for me. Got to agree though, that the meal deal idea made me cringe!

We've had past threads on the difficulties of making a living from a smallholding, even in Jimmy's case it seems its media work that brings home the bacon!

But if the winners were to get the prize 25 acre farm for good (rather than 12 months) I'd guess some of the showy stuff we're seeing might well prove useful. And I'd bet that all contestants have had to agree that the producers have follow up rights for the programme "a year on the farm"

Now that might be interesting