Just Farmers is a unique and pioneering communications project that gives farmers and growers the confidence to tell their stories with pride through fully-funded Media Education workshops; while helping journalists and programme makers find independent and authentic voices at the grassroots of farming.
Entirely funded by charitable grants, support has historically been short-term, and in order to continue their work they are currently seeking longer-term funding.
Founded in 2018 by farmer’s daughter, journalist and author Anna Jones, the idea was sparked by Anna’s research for a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 2016/17, which looked at the coverage of agriculture in news and current affairs around the world. Discovering a deep disconnect between farming communities and the mainstream, predominantly urban media, Anna wanted to give farmers the skills and confidence to step forward and share their stories, while helping colleagues in the media build more contacts in rural areas.
The Community Interest Company offers fully-funded Media Education workshops to individual farmers and growers with the aim of building confidence and communication skills at the grassroots of British agriculture, and they work to build connections between farmers and the media; helping journalists and programme makers find independent farmer case studies to talk to.
Over the last five years, they have provided free Media Education to 84 farmers, all of whom in the last year have enjoyed more than 200 regional, national and international media and public appearances (that’s four a week!), and they have connected hundreds of journalists and programme makers with these authentic voices. Just Farmers has even been credited as the reason that the pig industry is still alive and well due to the simple fact that they ‘gave pig farmers a voice’.
Just Farmers believes that the public perception of the entire agricultural industry is often worlds away from the everyday reality on individual farms – and by bridging the divide between this industry and urban media, they can give the consumer a greater understanding of where their food comes from, as well as the challenges that everyone faces around food security.
The long-term impact they want to see at Just Farmers is a more open and constructive relationship between farmers and the general public, via print, broadcast, online and social media, based on the contacts and professional relationships that they help to build.
They are also working to create new and diverse networks within UK agriculture, bringing together people who would never normally get the chance to meet, and building a sense of community stretching right across the otherwise siloed, or even divided, agricultural sectors and systems.
If you would like to know more about Just Farmers, or if you think you know of someone or an organisation that might be interested in helping to fund their work, please visit their website at justfarmers.org or email their Managing Editor Emily Davies on emily@justfarmers.org.
Keep up-to-date with the latest news from Just Farmers via their social channels:
