By Rebecca Greaves
Copyright farmersweekly
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Bringing people together to amplify conversations around soil, food and farming is what drives Fran Bailey.
Living on her partner’s family dairy farm in Waitoa, Waikato, she has built a community of like-minded people who share her passion for connecting people and food.
Working in PR and events, Bailey has helped launch initiatives such as Soil Sisters and Underground Festival, which brings food producers together and puts farmers at the centre of conversations about food.
She grew up on a dairy farm until the age of six, but had little to do with farming after that. What she did have was a strong interest in health and wellbeing.
Seeking a change of scene, Bailey moved to the United Kingdom in 2012, working for large PR agencies in fast-moving consumer goods like coffee and alcohol.
“There was no real health and wellness scene in London at that time. About five years in, a real trend emerged in health-led lifestyles,” she said.
“After a while, I started to get disillusioned with the clickbait diet messaging in the media and looked at what I could do beyond PR.”
She also realised that, living in an apartment building in the middle of London, she had become disconnected from her food, and where it came from.
She went on to study longevity and healing nutrition, and this reconnected her the source of her food – and farmers.
“Once I started meeting farmers and getting out on farms, I felt so much more hopeful about the future.”
It was at an event where a farmer stood up and defiantly declared “I’m an environmentalist too” that Bailey realised farmers were largely misunderstood by the UK public.
“I put a stake in the ground and made it my mission to tell the stories of farmers who care about the land and produce nutrient-rich food.”
This is a mindset she has carried home to New Zealand and now she’s come full circle, back living on a dairy farm.
While in the UK, she also worked on Groundswell Regenerative Farming Festival and knew she wanted to recreate something similar here, but unique to New Zealand.
The inaugural Underground Festival was held in February, a two-day celebration of soil, food and farming, with some music thrown in for good measure.
“It was an event for farmers and food producers to come together and learn from each other, and have really good food. It was a place of connection, inspiration and exploring ways of farming that are good for the soil, people, land and communities.”
About 300 people attended the February event and Bailey hopes to double that number next year, offering one- and two-day ticket options.
There’s a growing network of farming conferences happening around the world that are bringing more of a festival vibe, she said. They take place on a farm, they’re primarily for farmers and food producers, they bring in local and international speakers to share ideas, practices and experiences, and they have a focus on good food.
“I’ve found that farmers leave these events feeling invigorated and renewed. Farming is hard and isolated. These types of events offer a kind of in-person connection and a bit of fun, which we need more of right now.”
Soil Sisters was formed organically when Bailey returned from the UK and began searching for her “people”.
“I was going to local farmer’s markets and reconnecting with old friends. A bunch of us, who all happened to be women, decided to get together for lunch. Everyone brought a plate based on what they produce. We had hunters, farmers and bakers. At the end, someone said, it’s like we’re the soil sisters, and that was that.
“I think a sense of community is so important, we meet regularly and support one another. It was only due to the encouragement of the Soil Sisters and [Eat New Zealand CEO] Angela Clifford that I decided to launch Underground Festival.”
