Producers of Farming For Love are looking for five farmers to open their farms and hearts to daters
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Television producers are looking for B.C. farmers to participate in a new dating show.
Lark Productions, the Canadian production company behind shows including Mom’s A Medium, Motive and Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH, is casting for Farming for Love.
Farming for Love is a Canadian adaptation of The Farmer Wants a Wife.
This international show has been produced in 32 countries and has resulted in 191 marriages and more than 445 children.
The Canadian French-language version, L’amour est dans le pré (Love is in the Meadow), now in its 10th season, has resulted in more than 15 couples and 27 children.
The format for Farming for Love will follow what viewers are used to seeing in other versions of The Farmer Wants a Wife.
The farmers and daters will participate in group activities, challenges and one-on-one dates with the goal of finding a real, long-lasting relationship.
“In our opinion it’s a one-of-a-kind dating show,” Erin Haskett, president of Lark Productions, told Farms.com. “We think the success of this show is really based on the authenticity, the romance and the humour as our daters learn to live on a farm.”
The show, which will air on CTV, will follow five farmers and the singles they welcome to their farms as they adjust to a new lifestyle in the hopes of finding a partner.
For the first season, the farmers will be from B.C. But the singles could be from anywhere in the country, Haskett said.
Show producers are looking to celebrate diversity – in ag and in love.
Farmers from different sectors and searching for different kinds of relationships are welcome to apply, Haskett said.
“We really want to showcase the diversity of farmers,” she said. “All ages, all backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. And from all kinds of farms. There will be cattle ranchers and wheat growers, but we’re open to beekeepers, wineries and flower farmers. We want this to be a national series that showcases what this kind of work looks like.
“And we have a great casting team for anyone who has questions.”
Selected farmers will be involved in choosing the singles who appear alongside them.
This helps to ensure the farmers and the singles are on the show for the right reasons, Haskett said.
“It’s not just about putting everyone in a melting pot and seeing what happens,” Haskett said. “Once we select our farmers, we’ll have a better idea of who our farmers are looking for. For both daters and farmers, we’re looking for people who are truly looking for a relationship, want to settle down and find a long-term partner.”
The deadline for B.C. farmers to apply to be on the show is currently set for April 15, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. ET. But the deadline could change, Haskett said.
Canada will meet the selected farmers this summer. Production could start this summer and go into the fall, and Canadians should see a trailer for the show by next year, Haskett said.