A well-known farmer across the waters has created a campaign to highlight the important role of the agricultural sector amidst the current global health pandemic.
Victoria Dimond farms 100 pedigree Brown Swiss and Jersey cows alongside her partner, Michael, his father, John ,and three children; Mark, Lily and Grace.
They also run a commercial flock of more than 1,000 sheep along with 50 beef cattle and 12 milking goats in Somerset.
Promoting farming
Speaking to That’s Farming, she said: “I’m very passionate about promoting farming and everything about the industry because I absolutely love what I do.”
“I love to show people where their food comes from. I showcase my daily life, the highs and the really upsetting lows on my Instagram.”
The fifth-generation farmer stressed that people need to support each other more than ever before during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“We just have to get the message out there that we are here, still farming, still feeding the nation.”
“I feel that farmers are the hidden heroes and heroines during the Covid-19 crisis. We provide amazing products every single day, 365 days of the year. Pandemic or not, we are here for you to feed the country.”
Dimond holds the opinion that some members of the public take food for granted and do not realise the struggles experienced by farmers. “Unfair prices or no support from our government in hard times – farmers just get forgotten.”
Encourage public to back farmers
A belief that there is limited support for British farmers at present, coupled with a desire to raise awareness, gave rise to her ‘Back British Farming’ campaign.
She used her popular Instagram account to bring fifteen “amazing, hard-working, talented women in ag” together.
“There is hardly any support at the moment for British farmers during this hard time. I just feel we need to really get the message out there and get people supporting farmers.”
“I thought what a great way to show this off by getting a group of women from farmers, to bag makers to soap-makers to vegetable growers to get involved.”
“I came up with a slogan to get our message out: ‘British farmers are proud to produce wholesome nutritious traceable food by British buy local, support British farmers’.”
‘I’m the farmer, not the farmer’s wife’
Victoria said she is proud to be a farmer and is “even prouder” to be a woman in agriculture. “From a young age, I could never see the problem with a woman wanting to farm.”
She started her own dairy herd when she was 13-years-old, but as she grew up, she found it more difficult to be taken seriously as a young woman in the sector.
“People would just say: ‘you’re the farmer’s girlfriend or the farmer’s wife’ and I absolutely hate those sayings.”
“All I say back is ‘I’m the farmer, not the farmer’s wife’. I can do any job as good as any man.”
“Farming is not a man’s world – there are some amazing women out there farming and this campaign highlights just that,” she concluded.
That’s Farming will be profiling each of the campaign participants over the course of the coming days.
