Contestants get their hands dirty
Pastoral competition Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker (Saturday, Channel 4, 7.50pm)
continues, having provoked some controversy at its launch with various people wondering whether the 10-year tenancy of a farm is an appropriate prize for a TV show – or whether the tenancy should have been offered to local people before being offered up as the reward in what is essentially a talent contest for would-be agriculturalists.
What the series has done, though, is to shine a light on exactly what is involved in the running of a farm. Matt Baker, who lives on an organic sheep farm, has long been a champion of the British countryside and the people who make a living by working it.
“The rhetoric was ‘first it was Strictly, then Bake Off – and now they’re doing it with farming,’” Matt told Country Living Magazine. “But this is not some kind of X-factor-style contest about who can hit a fence post in the quickest. It’s a real-life job interview for a proper tenant farm.” Here he tasks the remaining hopefuls (the first elimination was last week) with looking after the ewes during their lambing – an activity that doesn’t respect the time of day.there can be no nineto-five on a farm (indeed Matt himself says that when he isn’t filming, he typically gets up at 5.30am and works on his land and with his livestock until 9pm), and during lambing you can forget about early starts because some nights you don’t actually stop.
Certainly this does set Our Dream Farm apart from the other skills competitions in that it doesn’t just demonstrate a technical ability, but rather the understanding of the whole lifestyle that to be successful in that world requires.there’s no mention in Bake Off of contestants’ willingness to get up at 4am to receive a flour delivery or to get that day’s bread dough proving.
This week’s other challenge will see the would-be tenants host an educational farm visit for a group of schoolchildren, with Giles and Sally hoping that the kids will learn about farming, conservation and food production while also having fun.
It’s a lesser known aspect of a farmer’s life, but increasingly education is more and more important. Helping people to feel connected to the land that provides the food they consume can help them make informed decisions about their shopping or eating habits, especially at a time when climate change is such a present threat.