Lambing Live star explains power of social media

Lambing has either already started, or fast approaching, on farms up and down the country, but how many farmers would agree to being constantly watched by a film crew of 70 people, having millions of pounds worth of satellite trucks parked taking over all the yard – and a catering tent serving food all day and night long?

“Well the food tent was certainly a bonus!” explained Kate Beavan, the star of the first ever Lambing Live series on the BBC, when she addressed a large crowd of NFU Cymru members at the Glamorgan Annual Conference earlier this week.

Up until five years ago, Kate and Jim Beavan with their family, farmed quietly in a 300 acre traditional mixed farm near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire. The entire family exploded onto our TV screens in March 2010 and Kate in particular has had a successful spell in the media ever since, doing short films for the BBC’s One Show as their resident farmer, and presenting Channel 4’s Crufts, whilst continuing to farm at Great Tre-Rhew.

Kate explained, “We weren’t sure how the programme would be received, especially as it was the first ‘live’ programme on TV. Nothing had been done like this before. We were particularly nervous that consumers wouldn’t like seeing their ‘food being born’. The response we got was phenomenal however, we had boxes of letters and hundreds of emails of support after the series ended.”

Abi Reader, NFU Cymru Glamorgan County Chairman, congratulated Kate and Jim Beavan on the superb work they have done as ambassadors for the farming industry in the UK. She said, “We all have to take some responsibility in marketing the work we do to the wider public and Kate has shown how that is possible. Kate and I actually met through Twitter and I believe that social media is an extremely powerful method of getting our message out there about how we produce the nation’s food and drink.”

Abi continued, “Social media is the only way, I know, how you can talk directly to politicians, decision makers, even celebrities and use it to promote your business and the farming industry as a whole. Not only that, we all know that farming can be a lonely occupation but social media makes you feel like you’re part of a worldwide community.”

Kate went on to explain to the large crowd present that having no mobile reception meant communications were difficult at the home farm, in Monmouthshire, however, she is a huge fan of twitter and now uses it to promote her new diversification – Kate’s Country School. With a zero marketing budget, Kate uses social media and the internet to promote her courses, including lambing, cider making, wildlife identification and animal husbandry. “The power of social media and the internet means we have visitors from all over the world coming to Great Tre-Rhiw to do the courses.”

John Davies, NFU Cymru’s Deputy President thanked Kate and Jim Beavan for being such good ambassadors for the farming industry in Wales. He gave high praise indeed when he explained his father would sneak off from their own lambing shed at home, five years ago, in order to watch the Beavan family on ‘Lambing Live’. John also thanked HSBC for their generous sponsorship of the annual conference held in the Grove Golf Club, Cornelly.