Rural romance

Long-distance dating

By Caroline Cummins

February 2, 2007

When pop-culture guru Andy Warhol quipped, “In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes,” he probably wasn’t thinking of isolated dairy farmers. But five young Welsh herdsfolk (three men, two women) are enjoying an unexpected moment in the media spotlight.

What have they done? Well, they like their jobs: raising, herding, and milking cows. But it’s not the best way to meet eligible young people. So the farmers are advertising – on milk cartons, of course.

It’s not a new idea – we’ve all seen those forlorn photos of missing children on milk cartons across America. But the farmers behind the Fancy a Farmer? campaign are putting a hopeful spin on the concept. After all, lots of folks drink milk, right? Maybe Mr. or Ms. Right does, too.

As the Washington Post reported: “‘We didn’t think it would go as big as this,’ said Elen Morris, 23, a farmer’s daughter from north Wales who agreed to put her photo on the milk containers so she could perhaps meet a man who is ‘easy-going, funny, someone you can have a laugh with.’”

Prospective mates, Morris added, need not be farmers themselves. And the milk? Organic, of course.