Farming For Love pairs B.C. farmers with singles
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Reality show lovers get ready because a dating show featuring Canadian farmers will air later this month.
Farming For Love, which will air on CTV beginning May 28, is based off 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.
In April 2022, Farms.com spoke with Erin Haskett, president of Lark Productions, the company behind the show.
The show “is really based on the authenticity, the romance and the humour as our daters learn to live on a farm,” she said.
The show will feature five B.C. farmers and the singles from across Canada they welcome to their farms as the singles adjust to a new lifestyle, in the hopes of finding a partner.
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.
Farms.com also connected with two of the farmers viewers will see on their screens.
Dave Semmelink, a 33-year-old from Comox Valley and operator of Lentelus Farms, a mixed livestock and grain operation, is among the farmers looking for a partner.
He wants to find someone who can help him achieve a work-life balance and is looking for a woman with a dark sense of humour.
In addition to finding a long-term partner, Semmelink hopes to use his platform to promote Canadian agriculture.
“For me that’s really important and one of the reasons why I did do the show. We can showcase the good parts of agriculture,” he told Farms.com in July 2022. “I actually teach a farming program for North Island College in regenerative agriculture, so I’m used to teaching and educating others on the importance of sustainable agriculture.”
The other participating farmer Farms.com spoke with is Gurleen Maan.
She’s a 34-year-old third generation farmer from Abbotsford, B.C. Her family owns and operates Maan Farms, a berry farm and agritourism operation.
She’s looking to find a partner who enjoys great food and wine, and who can handle her “hectic” lifestyle.
Like Semmelink, she too wants her time on the show to help people appreciate Canadian ag.
“I think the life of a farmer and agriculture in general needs more exposure, especially modern agriculture,” she told Farms.com. “We do a lot of things that are innovative and have surpassed traditional farming practices and I think it’ll be great for the rest of the nation to see what agriculture looks like today.”