Farmer Wants A Wife’s Bert Harris isn’t the only farmer to be hit with the ‘fake farmer’ rumours this year, with some viewers also saying the same thing for Farmer Joe Bobbin. Joe spoke to Yahoo Lifestyle, setting the record straight on the rumours, which he describes as “unfair”.
“This Joe Blow isn’t even a farmer…he’s a FIFO worker living on his parents farm…” one Instagram user wrote on one of the Farmer Wants A Wife posts.
“Yeah, I’ve talked to Bert about his veggie patch, poor bloke,” Joe jokingly tells us, referencing Bert’s pineapple farm, which some viewers said isn’t a ‘real farm’ because it doesn’t have cattle and other livestock. “I think he probably works the hardest out of all of us, he’s got a lot going on. Yeah, I think it’s pretty unfair about [the rumours].”
“I’ve had comments [that say] I don’t have a farm… So, I’m just like, well I don’t know where we filmed it all, all the cattle work and things like that,” he says cheekily.
Joe explains, “I grew up here [in Bombala], I’m a part owner alongside my mum and my dad, which is not uncommon for any sort of younger person. I’ve bought into the farm, I’ve bought my dad out, and I pay lease to my mum, I haven’t inherited anything. But that’s OK, people are entitled to their own opinion.”
Speaking about his fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) work, the farmer tells us, “Like a lot of blokes my age, farmers, things like that, we weren’t sure what we wanted to do when we finished school and stuff.
“I went out and got into construction, did a lot of FIFO when I was in my early 20s, which led to the money to be able to buy part of the farm from my parents. So I did that, now I started my own business contracting out, so I contract to other farmers, I contract FIFO sometimes.
“I’ve used my skills that I’ve learned along the way to be able to do these things, but my address, and my home is here on the farm. And I spend the majority of my time here.”
He continues, “Everyone tries to make it out like you can’t be a real farmer if you have a second income. I don’t really understand that, like most people have a second income these days.”