Questions to Ask Farmers
Questions to ask a farmer at a market stall, on a farm visit or school trip, before joining a CSA, or for a class project. They run from easy openers through what to buy this week, how the crops are grown and the animals kept, to money, labour and who takes over next.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Openers
What do you grow or raise on this farm?
Why ask it
Start here even when the stall or the sign seems to answer it. Plenty of farms run more than they show the public, such as hay, a few beef cattle or a contract crop, and the full list tells you which of your later questions will make sense.
How did you come to be farming this land?
Why ask it
Inherited, married into, bought, leased, or started from nothing are five different financial situations. The answer tells you about debt, about freedom to change direction, and usually about the family in the background. If they do not say how many years ago it was, ask, because a third season and a thirtieth are different conversations.
What is a normal day for you at this time of year, from the first job to the last?
Why ask it
Naming the season is what makes this answerable, because a day at harvest and a day in midwinter share almost nothing. Listen for the start time and for what still happens after dark. Those two details correct most people's picture of the job.
What part of the work do you enjoy most?
Why ask it
The answer is often a quiet job, such as checking stock at first light or walking a field after rain, and less often the harvest a visitor pictures. It is a kind question to ask early, and a good one to hand to a child, since nearly every farmer has an answer ready.
What is the hardest part of being a farmer?
Why ask it
Long hours are rarely the whole answer. It may be a spring when everything has been spent and nothing is selling yet, a sick animal, or weather that undoes a month of work in an afternoon. Ask it after the favourite part, then ask which month is the worst, which pins a general complaint to a date and a reason.
What does your year look like, month by month?
Why ask it
A vegetable grower in a cold climate might describe seed trays under lights in late winter, transplanting in spring, the long grind of harvest and then a season of paperwork. A sheep or grain farm will give a different calendar altogether. Either way you get the answer to what children most want to know, which is what a farmer does all winter.
Who taught you to farm?
Why ask it
People come to the trade by very different routes: a parent, a neighbour down the road, an agricultural college, a few seasons as a hired hand. The follow-up that gets a story is what they now do differently from the person who taught them, and whether that person approves.
At the Market
Where is the farm, and how far did this travel to get here?
Why ask it
A town name and a rough drive time are what you are after, and a grower gives both without thinking. Each market decides for itself what counts as local, and some set no limit at all, so the distance is worth hearing first-hand. Knowing where the farm is also lets you look out for its roadside stand or farm shop.
What did you pick today, and what has been in storage?
Why ask it
Stored is not a mark against a crop: apples, potatoes, onions and winter squash are grown to keep, while salad leaves, berries and sweetcorn fade within days of picking. A grower will sort the table into the two for you, which tells you what to eat tonight and what can wait until the weekend.
Do you grow everything on this table?
Why ask it
Some markets allow only what the stallholder produced and others let stalls buy in from a neighbour or a wholesaler, so the rule depends on where you are standing. Most sellers who supplement will say so when asked plainly. Notice whether the answer comes readily or after a pause and a qualification.
What is in season right now that people walk straight past?
Why ask it
Growers are asked for the same few crowd-pleasers all morning, so a question about the overlooked crate tends to wake the conversation up. You will usually leave with something you have never bought before, and a reason to come back and report on it.
What is coming in over the next few weeks?
Why ask it
Whoever walked the rows this morning knows what is ten days from ready. If you freeze or preserve, this is how you learn the week something will be at its most plentiful, and whether to bring a bigger bag next Saturday.
How should I keep this once I get it home?
Why ask it
The person who grew it knows whether it wants the fridge, the counter or a paper bag, and roughly how many days it has left. Ask in particular about anything picked ripe, which will not last the way fruit picked hard for shipping does.
How do you cook this at home?
Why ask it
Asking how they cook it, not how it can be cooked, gets the weeknight version: one pan, a few ingredients, no recipe. Use it on the vegetable you have never bought before. If the reply is that they are sick of the sight of it by the end of the season, that is a fair answer too.
Which variety is this, and why did you choose it?
Why ask it
Variety is the decision a shopper never sees. Some are chosen for flavour, some for yield, some because they stand up to the local weather or a disease that keeps coming back. Write the name down if you liked it, so you can ask for it next year or grow it yourself.
Do you sell seconds or bulk boxes?
Why ask it
Marked or misshapen fruit often never reaches the table, and many growers are glad to sell it by the box for jam, sauce or the freezer. Ask a week ahead when you can, which gives them time to set it aside.
What happens to whatever you do not sell today?
Why ask it
It might go to the family table, a food bank, a restaurant order, the pigs or the compost heap, and the answer shows how closely the farm matches its picking to its sales. It is also a tactful way to learn whether shoppers who turn up near closing are a help or a nuisance. Ask out of interest, not as the opening of a bargain.
Do you run a CSA or a box scheme, and what does a member commit to?
Why ask it
A share is usually paid for up front and filled with whatever the season produces, so the detail matters before you sign: how long the season runs, the pickup day, what happens to your box when you are away, and what a thin week looked like last year.
Can people visit the farm?
Why ask it
A grower who says yes, on an open day or by arrangement, is usually comfortable with how the place looks. A no is not a warning sign by itself. Insurance, biosecurity and the fact that the farm is also a family home are all ordinary reasons.
Growing
How do you handle weeds and pests?
Why ask it
You are asking what they do, which gets further than asking what they call it. Hoeing, mulch, netting, crop covers, predator insects and sprays are all possible answers, and a farm may use several at once. Ask which pest costs them the most sleep, because most growers can name one without pausing.
What do you spray, if anything, and how close to harvest?
Why ask it
Asked without an edge, this usually gets a product, a reason and a rough date, which tells you more than a 'no spray' sign does. The rules on what may be applied, and how long before picking, differ by country and by crop, so ask what applies to them instead of assuming.
What do you feed the soil?
Why ask it
Listen for soil tests, or for what a field was like five years ago: a grower who mentions either is managing the ground on purpose. Compost, manure, cover crops and bought fertiliser are the usual answers, often in combination, and where the manure or compost comes from is a fair follow-up.
Are you certified organic, and is certification worth it for a farm like yours?
Why ask it
In many countries the word organic on a label is regulated and needs a certifier's sign-off, though the rules differ, so ask which scheme the farm belongs to. A farmer selling directly to you may have decided the fee and the paperwork are not worth it when customers can simply ask how things are grown. That is a reasonable answer, and the follow-up is what they would have to change to qualify.
Where do your seeds and young plants come from?
Why ask it
Some farms raise everything from seed, some buy in trays of transplants, and a few save their own seed from one year to the next. If genetically modified crops matter to you, this is the calm place to raise it, since which ones are grown at all depends on the country and the crop.
How do you water, and what happens in a dry summer?
Why ask it
The source decides a great deal: a well, a river licence, a pond, mains water and rain alone are very different positions to be in by the end of a dry spell. Then listen for which crops get the water when there is not enough for all of them, because that shows what the farm cannot afford to lose.
What did the weather do to you this year?
Why ask it
Farmers tend to remember weather by date: the late frost, the week it would not stop raining, the hail on one particular afternoon. Ask what they did about it, since the response is more interesting than the complaint and shows how much slack the farm has.
What grew in this field last year, and what goes in next?
Why ask it
This is crop rotation asked as a fact instead of a principle. A clear sequence with a reason for each step tells you how far ahead the farm plans. On a visit, ask it standing at the edge of one particular field and the answer gets much better.
What have you stopped growing, and why?
Why ask it
The discontinued crops carry the lessons: a pest that arrived, a price that collapsed, a labour requirement that could not be met, a buyer who went out of business. This is where you learn what the farm has survived.
What are you trying for the first time this year?
Why ask it
Many farms have one small experiment going: a new variety, a different mulch, a few rows of something a chef asked for. It shows where their curiosity is, and at a stall you may be offered some to taste. Go back in a month and ask how it went.
Livestock
What animals do you keep, and which breeds?
Why ask it
The breed carries more information than the species does. A slower-growing or traditional breed is a choice about flavour, hardiness and cost, and a farmer who made that choice will gladly explain it. Ask how many as well, because forty hens and four thousand are different farms.
What do the animals eat, and how much of that do you grow yourself?
Why ask it
The mix shifts with the season, with grass in the growing months and hay, silage or grain when it stops, so ask about winter as well as today. Home-grown feed means the farm knows exactly what goes in, and bought feed is where a price rise lands first. If a claim like grass fed matters to you, ask whether it holds all year.
How much of the year are the animals outdoors?
Why ask it
Ask for months and hours, since 'access to the outdoors' can mean a field or a door. Housing stock over winter is normal in cold, wet places and is often easier on the animals and the ground, so listen for the reason and the routine as well as the word 'outside'.
When do you use antibiotics or other medicines?
Why ask it
The distinction worth hearing is between treating a sick animal and dosing a whole group as routine. Ask what happens to a treated animal's milk, eggs or meat afterwards. What is permitted, growth hormones included, differs by country and species, so ask what the rule is there.
When are the young born, and what is that season like?
Why ask it
Lambing, calving, kidding and farrowing each have their own calendar, and some farms time births for spring grass while others spread them through the year. For a few weeks it can mean checks through the night, so ask who takes which shift. If you hope to bring children to see newborns, ask first, because some farms keep visitors away during those weeks.
Who processes your animals, and how far do they travel?
Why ask it
'Processing' is the trade's word for slaughter and butchery, and farmers who sell their own meat expect to be asked. How far it is to an abattoir, and how hard it is to book a slot there, is something many small livestock farmers will talk about at length. If you would sooner not hear the detail, leave this one out.
What do the words on your label mean on this farm?
Why ask it
Free range, pasture raised, grass fed and outdoor bred have a legal definition in some places, a certifier's definition in others, and none at all elsewhere. Asking what the words mean here turns a label into a description of the animal's ordinary day, which is what you wanted to know.
Do you name your animals?
Why ask it
Children ask this within a minute of arriving, and adults want to. Breeding animals that stay for years usually have names, and animals raised for meat often have numbers. That split is the gentlest way into how a farmer thinks about caring for animals that are also the farm's living.
Who looks after the animals when you are away?
Why ask it
Livestock need checking every day of the year, so the answer is often a neighbour, a relative, or nobody, because the farmer does not go away. It says more about the life than any question about hours, and it is kinder than asking whether they ever get a holiday.
Money and Work
Which part of the farm pays the bills?
Why ask it
On a mixed farm one or two enterprises usually carry the rest, and it is often not the one the farm is known for. Hearing which it is rearranges everything else you have been told about how the place is run and where the risk sits.
Where else do you sell what you produce?
Why ask it
Each outlet pays differently and asks for something different in return, whether that is a restaurant, a shop, a box scheme, a stand at the gate or a wholesale buyer. A market stall can bring in more per kilo and still be the costliest outlet once the day spent standing behind it is counted. As a customer, you also learn where to find them midweek.
How do you set your prices?
Why ask it
Asked respectfully, this usually gets a straight answer about costs, about what the market down the road charges, and about what people will actually pay. On a farm that sells to a processor or at auction, the honest reply may be that they do not set them at all. It is also the polite way to stop yourself haggling.
Who else works here, and how do you find them?
Why ask it
Family, a seasonal crew, workers on a visa scheme, volunteers or nobody at all: each answer describes a different farm. The number of people tells you the real scale of the place better than acreage does. Ask which job is hardest to find anyone for.
What equipment could you not manage without, and what breaks most?
Why ask it
The first half gives you the scale of the farm, since a walk-behind tiller and a combine belong to different worlds. The second half gives you a story, and usually the name of whoever keeps the old machine running. Repairs done in the yard are a cost a visitor never sees.
Which of your costs has risen the most?
Why ask it
Feed, fuel, fertiliser, packaging, rent and wages are the usual candidates, and the one they name shows what kind of farm it is. Follow with whether they were able to pass it on. A grower selling direct can sometimes raise a price, and one selling on contract often cannot.
How much of your week is spent away from the field?
Why ask it
Count everything that is not growing or tending: records, inspections, grant forms, deliveries, invoices and the hours behind a stall. People who went into farming to be outdoors tend to say plainly how much the desk has grown. Ask who in the household does the books.
What technology do you use that would surprise a visitor?
Why ask it
The range runs from a weather app and a spreadsheet to satellite steering, soil sensors or a robot that milks the cows. Ask what it replaced and whether it has paid for itself. Someone who tried a tool and went back to the old way is worth a second question.
How much land do you farm, and is it owned or rented?
Why ask it
Rented ground changes every long-term decision: whether to build soil, plant trees, put in irrigation or repair a barn. In some farming communities a question about acreage is heard much like a question about salary, so leave it until you have talked a while and take a rough answer gladly.
Can you make a living from the farm alone?
Why ask it
Ask this plainly and late, once your other questions have shown you are curious and not keeping score. Many farmers will answer honestly, and the honest answer often includes a job off the farm held by someone in the household. If the reply is short, let it be short.
Looking Ahead
What has changed about farming here since you started?
Why ask it
Older farmers give long answers to this one, and they are often the most substantial part of the conversation. Land prices, building at the edge of town, the number of farms left nearby, the weather and what customers want all tend to come up. Asking what has changed for the better as well keeps it from turning into a lament.
What do you wish people understood about farming?
Why ask it
Farmers hear the same handful of misconceptions every week and are seldom invited to correct them. The correction is usually about prices, about sprays, or about how much of what is sold as local really is. If the misconception turns out to be one of yours, resist defending it.
What is the biggest challenge facing farms like yours right now?
Why ask it
Where the hardest-part question was about the person, this one is about the trade, and a dairy, an orchard and a market garden will name three different problems. Ask what would ease it and who has the power to do that. A school report or a local news piece needs this one answered in the farmer's own words.
What could customers do that would help the farm most?
Why ask it
Expect something more practical than 'buy more': order ahead, turn up in the rain, take the glut crop, keep the box going through the lean weeks of spring. Whatever they say, it is likely to be something you can do by next Saturday.
What would you tell someone who wants to start farming?
Why ask it
The reply is usually blunt about land, money and the value of working on someone else's farm first. Then ask what they would do differently in their own first three years, which gets a story where the general version gets a warning.
What do you plan to change here in the next few years?
Why ask it
Plans show whether the farm is growing, holding steady or winding down without anyone having to say so: a new crop, fewer animals, a farm shop, a smaller acreage farmed better. If the answer is 'nothing', ask what would have to happen for that to change.
Who takes the farm on after you?
Why ask it
Succession weighs on many farming families and can be a sore subject, so ask it last and gently. The answer is sometimes a child coming back, sometimes a young farmer being brought in, and sometimes silence. Silence is an answer too, and not one to press past.
Talking with farmers
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which questions for which moment
- At a busy stall, one question from At the Market is plenty. Save the rest for next week. A regular who asks one good thing each visit learns more than a stranger with a list.
- On a farm visit, begin with the Openers and let what is in front of you choose the next group: Growing at the edge of a field, Livestock at a gate.
- Money and Work and Looking Ahead belong late, once you have listened for a while. Asked first, they sound like an audit.
- For a class project, pick eight or ten from across the groups and send them ahead. Answers are fuller when the farmer has had a day of chores to think them over.
At a market or a farm stand
Pick your moment
Stalls tend to be busiest just after opening and again near closing. A quiet spell in between gets you a real conversation, and buying something first changes the exchange more than any question you could ask.
Ask about practice, not labels
Organic, regenerative, and sustainable are contested words that mean different things to a certifier, a marketer, and a grower. Asking what they do about weeds or soil gets a concrete answer nobody has to defend.
Ask about sprays and animals as a customer, not an inspector
Questions on sprays, medicines and how the animals live are fair, and a farmer who sells to the public expects them. Tone decides what you get back. Ask what happens and why, accept a reply you were not hoping for, and make up your mind afterwards, away from the stall.
Do not haggle
A stall price has to cover the growing, the picking, the drive in and a morning spent selling. Asking how prices are set is a fair question. Asking for a discount at the end of the day is a different one.
Follow the answer, not your list
The best conversations arrive when someone mentions a crop that failed or a piece of equipment they hate. Abandon your remaining questions and ask about that instead.
If you are visiting the farm
- Ask before you arrive what time suits, and expect the answer to be early or between jobs rather than the middle of the day.
- Ask where you may walk and where you may not. Biosecurity around livestock and young plantings is a genuine concern, not fussiness.
- Wear boots you are willing to have hosed down, and clean them if you have been on another farm.
- Keep well back from machinery, and from any animal with young, unless the farmer brings you closer.
- Ask before photographing people who work there, including family.
- Do not open gates, touch animals, or pick anything without asking first.
- Offer to help with something for an hour, and do the job you are given the way you are shown. You will learn more in that hour than in the interview.
With children or a school group
- Have each child choose one question beforehand and ask it themselves. A child's question usually gets a patient, proper answer.
- The normal day, the favourite job, the breeds, the names and when the young are born are the ones that suit younger children best.
- Decide in advance how you will handle where meat comes from. A farmer who is asked will answer honestly, so the adult in charge should not be the one caught off guard.
- Ask where the group can wash their hands after touching animals and before anyone eats.
- Ask the farmer what they would like the group to see, and plan the visit around that instead of around a worksheet.
If you are interviewing for a story or a project
- Open by asking what they would most like your readers to come away knowing. It shows you what the farmer thinks the story is before you impose your own.
- Money questions land better at the end, and better still once you have shown you understand what an acre or a season involves.
- Check terminology as you go rather than guessing. Getting a crop name, a breed, or a piece of equipment wrong undermines everything else you write.
- People who give an interview often never see what came of it. Ask whether the farmer would like a copy, and then send it.