Meet Modern Farmer's Guest Instagrammer: Bundarra Berkshires

Modern Farmer: Could you tell us a little about your farm?

Lauren Mathers: My husband and I run it with our two little girls. We bought our first pig in 2010 and started selling commercially in 2011. Our farm is on the Murray River, about three hours north of Melbourne. We’ve got a 100 acres here. We have an on-the-farm butcher shop and sell all of our animals through farmers markets, gourmet delis in Melbourne and online deliveries. We just crowd funded a charcuterie room, so we can make traditional pork goods. We also do workshops on the farm. We don’t use any chemicals on the farm or preservatives in our food.

‘I think it is really important for us to have good connections because farming can be quite isolating sometimes, and people don’t understand the whole nitty gritty side of farming.’

MF: Why did you decide to join Instagram as a farmer?

LM: I joined Instagram a few years ago, but I didn’t really start getting into it until I started using Twitter. A lot of social media is connecting with people around the globe. I think it is really important for us to have good connections because farming can be quite isolating sometimes, and people don’t understand the whole nitty gritty side of farming. Those connections to where your food comes from is really important. I fully believe in that. We are connecting people with their food so they can understand what we are doing. It is awesome to see what other farmers are doing as well. It just blows me away, I love it. It tells such a nice story.

MF: It seems like some farmers use Instagram as a way to connect with other farmers and some use it as a marketing tool. How do you see it.

LM: I use it as a marketing tool, but also as a storyteller. I just cover all bases. Marketing is very important. We use Facebook, Instagram, newsletters and face- to-face. But those are very broad ranges. Instagram we use to tell the story of what we are up to and what our family is up to, it is a family run business.

MF: is there anything in particular you are excited to share this week?

LM: Oh sure. Next week we will handle our charcuterie room. It is not another normal week for us. We will be making small goods. But also, just showing our farm and how we do it. We have around 700 followers, Modern Farmer has a lot more followers that we can connect with and show what we are doing. And there’s showing how we process our animals as well.

(This interview has been edited and condensed.)

(Photo Credit: Top image by Jayme Collins. All others courtesy Lauren Mathers.)