What’s the hardest question you’ve ever been asked?

Hello!  Happy Monday!

I’m hoping that this week you might be able to help us with a bit of research – and perhaps help out the farming/rural sector more generally at the same time.As many of you will know, farmers and land managers don’t always get an easy ride in the media and can sometimes wrongly be portrayed as the bad guys in certain circumstances – the climate change debate for example.

I’ve long believed that more of the positive farming stories need to be told – that’s the main reason why we created the OnFARM podcast.Because of the bashing that they sometimes receive, many farmers are reluctant to engage with members of the public on social media, or in person, for fear of being challenged, criticised or asked a difficult question that they aren’t confident to answer.‍

Myself and a team of cross-industry colleagues are trying to do something to help and so we’re considering putting something together, maybe a podcast, which provides useful answers to some of the most common ‘tricky questions’ that farmers get asked.

Perhaps you host farm visits and the kids have stumped you in the past with their interrogations? Maybe there’s a non-farmer in your circle of friends who enjoys a controversial debate? Or it may be that you have a fear of social media because you think it might open the doors to criticism and you aren’t (yet!) prepared for dealing with that?

Whatever your experience with the general public, we’d love to hear some examples of tricky questions you’ve been asked in the past – or maybe a friend or relative has given you some ideas based on their own experiences.

Once we have a list we’ll prepare some possible answers (don’t worry, we’re fully media trained!) to these questions and circulate them – all in the hope that we can help some people to answer the next awkward question sent their way.

Does that sound like a deal?