How Many People Would Like To Marry A Farmer?

On this Valentine?s Day, the most romantic of days, when many farmers are calving cows and lambing ewes rather than rushing out to purchase roses and chocolates, are there many women who would like to marry a farmer?? How many women would prefer to marry a farmer compared to other occupations such as chef, vet, lawyer or teacher?

When some people see my book ‘Would You Marry A Farmer?’, some will giggle and pick it up, others will say a vehement ‘No’. ?I knew it ran that risk with the title but I wanted the title to reflect that it was about farming life (not necessarily all about my life) and that it was tongue in cheek. ?There are definitely people out there who would run a mile from a farmer and yet there are others who would love to marry a farmer and live on a farm – the organic searches to this blog include searches such as ‘how to find a farmer to marry’ on a daily basis.

I could never live with anyone who travelled a lot. Brian and I always argued if we were apart, not sure why but that lifestyle just wouldn’t work for us. ?Having great long holidays when he was a scientist and I was a teacher was wonderful but we always hankered after the smallholding way of life. ?Farming is tough and we didn’t get our annual holiday (in January) this year for various reasons (mostly because there were still 60 bulls sitting here) but I do love being self employed and working the land.

With this in mind though, I decided to compile a questionnaire on Survey Monkey – how many women (I didn’t make it women only but it seems to be all women who responded) would choose a farmer as compared to other professions e.g. lawyer, doctor, author, journalist, chef etc. ?I also asked the question to gauge the vehement Yes/No reaction – to see how many women would be quite happy marrying a farmer and how many would run a mile.

Here is a summary of the results:

76% of those who answered the question ?Would you marry a farmer?? said yes. 24% seemed horrified at the suggestion. Of those who left comments, the income instability and the fact that farming is a 24/7 profession were the main objections.? One lady who viewed the work as never-ending, the farm as a tie and the proximity of the in-laws as less than favourable still said the answer would be yes ? she would marry a farmer.

How does a farmer compare to other professions? While two women said they would be happy with any occupation apart from a farmer, the farmer did quite well. The farmer as the perfect partner was chosen by 25%, 13% more than the next option, which was a veterinary surgeon at 12%. Next up were teachers, doctors/nurses and journalists. Those working in sales/retail were at the bottom of the pile!

182 people took the survey. The results suggest that while the average farmer might not be equated to Romeo, many women look favourably upon this profession as marriage potential. There is more to be said for farmers than road frontage alone yet the prospect of bringing up a family in the countryside with a partner who is hard working and in tune with nature is an attractive one.

I will export the data when I get the chance and see if I can post it here as a link!

I’m still longing to hear of my book being used by a farmer as a wedding proposal prop 😉 ?It is available at a much reduced price on kindle over Valentine’s weekend by the way – hope you enjoy it if you do read it.