In an unprecedented display of grassroots organizing powered by social media, tens of thousands of farmers are set to descend on the streets of London this Tuesday to protest against controversial government tax policies. The rally, expected to eclipse an official lobbying event by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), is being marshaled by a new generation of tech-savvy farming influencers who have built massive online followings.
The Rise of the Farming Influencer
Leading the charge is Olly Harrison, a cereal farmer from Merseyside with over 142,000 YouTube subscribers. Harrison, who describes himself as an “accidental YouTuber,” has joined forces with four other prominent farmer influencers to channel the anger and frustration of their online communities into real-world action.
“Everyone is so angry that they’re coming to the likes of us, content creators, saying ‘can you help? You’ve got the platform,'” Harrison explained in an interview. “So we’ve become, sort of, the voice of agriculture.”
“We’re all farmers. We totally get it. We’re as angry as everyone else, and people just need a bit of leadership, or feel like someone’s fighting their corner.”
– Olly Harrison, farming influencer
From Virtual Musings to Viral Movements
The farming influencer phenomenon took off during the Covid-19 lockdowns, as creators like Harrison, Ioan Humphreys, and Rebecca Wilson found their posts and videos about daily life on the farm resonating with a much wider audience. Many are now represented by Hillsgreen, a digital marketing agency specializing in agriculture.
“I think the tides have turned in terms of public perception of farmers,” said Wilson, who focuses on Instagram and TikTok. She believes that hit shows like Clarkson’s Farm have helped boost the profile and relatability of farmers among the general public.
Mobilizing Rural Anger Over Tax Plans
The London rally was initially planned as an overflow event for the NFU’s official lobbying day but has since taken on a life of its own. Farmer influencers are focusing their followers’ outrage on Treasury figures suggesting that only around 500 UK farms will be impacted by inheritance tax changes.
However, citing data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), influencers like Harrison and Welsh YouTube star Gareth Wyn Jones argue that up to 66% of farm businesses could actually be affected. Farms worth over £1 million, rising to around £3 million with some tax allowances, will be subject to the levy under the new plans.
“Let’s see how Tuesday lands first. Because when there’s chaos, we need the public to understand why. We need the voters on side, so there’s an education piece to be done first.”
– Olly Harrison on the planned protests
From Downing Street to the Supermarket Shelf
While the farmers plan to make a large donation to food banks to avoid going “full French” with their protests, as Harrison jokingly put it, they are prepared to escalate their actions if the government doesn’t listen.
Harrison believes that if Tuesday’s rally goes to plan, other sectors could join the farmers in future demonstrations. He argues that ministers have “made bad decisions, not difficult decisions” and that “the only way we’re going to get them to realize this is when the public can’t go to shops and pick up what they need, or go to a restaurant for their tea.”
A Powerful New Voice for Agriculture
As traditional unions struggle to mobilize against unpopular policies, the rise of social media influencers in farming is giving a powerful new voice to rural communities. By translating online anger into offline action, these creators are proving that virtual engagement can drive real-world change.
Whether the government will heed their demands remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: in the digital age, politicians ignore the collective might of engaged online communities at their peril. The farming influencers’ rally in London this week could be just the beginning of a new era of agricultural activism, powered by clicks, likes, and shares.
