The growing disconnect between people and the food they eat is well known. Not understanding how milk is produced, which animal pork comes from, or when strawberries are in season is increasingly commonplace and signifies an urban society with a worrying lack of exposure to the rural world.

This disconnect is even more concerning at a time when the rural sector holds many of the solutions to the challenges society is currently confronting – the race to net zero emissions, the need to improve diets, enhance health and reverse the decline of nature. This, combined with the seismic policy shifts facing the sector, means that demystifying and communicating the value and reality of farming has become a priority.

Connect to the consumer

Historically, farmers have been among the last people to jump on the self-publicising wagon. However, the growth of online platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok mean farmers and farm workers can now share their stories on social media at the click of a button. Not only is it inherently Instagrammable – think photos of fluffy lambs or dramatic arable sunsets – but, more importantly, this growing online communication is pivotal in reconnecting the urban public with the lived reality of the rural world.

The concept of the farmfluencer, farming celebrities who have shot to fame through their online content, may sound unlikely to some, but the numbers speak for themselves. Instafarmers @redshepherdess (45K followers) and @bentheoandrews (42K followers) among many others make it their daily mission to share the dirt on what farming really entails. And it’s not just Instagram – famous Lake District sheep farmer James Rebanks sprung to fame on Twitter with his shepherding tweets. Two books down the line and he’s a trailblazer in communicating what farming means and the hurdles farmers face on a daily basis.

Lockdown has exaggerated society’s increasing demand for rural online content. Our new-found propensity for the virtual world has meant farmers have had to scale up their communication – LEAF’s annual Open Farm Sunday turned into Online Farm Sunday, while hashtags such as #backbritishfarming went viral. Covid-19 also resulted in a revival of interest in locally produced food and, once again, technology was an enabler, creating online platforms such as Farms to Feed Us, an open source website connecting consumers and local growers.

Demand for rural online content

We spoke to Amy Eggleston, aka @thedairydaughter, who returned home to work on her family dairy farm in Leicestershire. She set up her farm Instagram account (now with over 10k followers) to “show people what dairy farming really involves”. Amy’s past work experience combined with her love of the farm inspired her to start a rural communications business, offering advice to businesses on how to promote themselves. She has a variety of different clients in the agriculture sector who want to spread the word and often social media is a great place for them to start. She agrees that the pandemic has confirmed the importance of engaging with online platforms, and believes in the benefit that this can bring in educating people about food, nature and farming.

• @pasturesgreencommunications

How to spread the word effectively

We asked Amy for her top tips for rural businesses looking to diversify their communications:

• Do something – anything is better than nothing, just set up a page, a website, even a newsletter email. Don’t be afraid to try it – it’s really not rocket science.

• Engage with others, make Instagram friends – there is a really supportive community out there.

• To increase your reach, make sure you have a variety of platforms for different audiences. For example, use Twitter for information on fertility rates, Instagram for pictures of cute calves.

The demand on the rural sector to scale up online communication may well be one silver lining of the pandemic. As farming continues to be put under the spotlight and undergo substantial change, the sector will need public support, which is a lot easier when everyone understands what farming means.

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: Farm Diversification below.}