By Emily Davies. Posted on
Just Farmers Connects farmers with members of the media
We've been talking about it for years, but we finally did it - we hosted our first networking event bringing together farmers, members of the media, funders and supporters of our work at Savills in London.
The event - Just Farmers Connects - was a chance to meet the Just Farmers team and hear a bit more about what we do and why we do it, and was a chance for us to thank the kind sponsors and supporters of our Community Interest Company.
Twelve of our farmers represented the 84 (soon to be 108) farmers that we have within our network, all from a different sector in the agricultural industry.
Soft fruit producer Bal Padda, who spoke at the event and did his free media education workshops in 2022 said: "It was my pleasure to come down and support you, I am still learning the art of talking with confidence, which is always fun as my mind thinks a million things at a time. What you do is wonderful and really from my side appreciated, keep up the good work."
Speaking from the heart we heard how Just Farmers had helped our farmers gain confidence in public speaking, talking to the press, and in some cases inspired them to make some changes to their farms and the methods that they use.
All of our farmers agreed that being able to connect with farmers from different backgrounds all across the country was one of the best aspects of being part of our network, and in some cases helped with their mental health.
Hannah Edwards, a dairy farmer from Shropshire who joined Just Farmers back in 2019 said, "Thank you so much for inviting me to attend last night's great event. I got so much out of it, Just Farmers is a fantastic family to belong to. You and Anna should be so proud of what you do, I can't actually put into words how thankful I am to be part of the story. I've met so many amazing people on my journey."
Journalist and author Tom Heap from BBC's Countryfile and Sky's The Climate Show was one of our guest speakers at the event talking about how he has personally benefited from what we do, as well as long-standing supporters Rob and Sally Mercer from the Mercer Charitable Foundation - without whom we wouldn't be here today!
Representatives from the Farming Community Network, Oxford Farming Conference and Royal Agricultural Society England were also in attendance.