Farmers Harvest Online Dates

Nov. 2, 2005 — -- When the rooster crows, are you all alone? Do you milk the cow and churn butter by your lonesome self? Are you looking for love in all the wrong places?

If you're a farmer reaping a bitter harvest on the field of love, there's now an online dating service just for you.

"City folks just don't understand," says Jerry Miller, who founded the www.farmersonly.com Web site in May.

"Sure, the farming community gets smaller every year, but there are still roughly 2 million farms in America, and the people who live out there are committed to a way of life that not everyone wants or understands."

Julie, a 42-year-old who goes by "Redneckmom46808" is among the 2,000 registered members. She's got four wonderful children, lives in Fort Wayne, Ind., and describes herself as "looking for my cowboy."

"Organicplowboy" might be her perfect match. He's also 42 and describes himself as a fourth-generation farmer, who's "financially stable, very healthy, fun loving and well educated." Then again, he's from Ludington, Mich., and perhaps that makes him geographically inappropriate.

Geography is often the enemy of a farmer's love life. Not only do farmers work in remote areas, they're spread out all over all 50 states.

"We haven't had any marriages yet between our members. But we're new," Miller says. "Our numbers doubled in the last few weeks, so it's becoming a richer community every day."

George Oscar, a 42-year-old horse dentist who lives just outside Cleveland, says it's the best dating Web site he's ever joined, and it's already resulted in several friendships.

"I live close enough to a big city that I had options. I tried Yahoo! Personals," Oscar says. "But my job is unique, and I wanted to meet people who shared my interests, only I didn't want to date my clients."

Some 40 million Americans -- nearly half of all unmarried people -- have tried Internet dating in recent years, turning it into a $1 billion business. Match.com alone operates 30 different sites in 18 languages and claims to have 15 million members around the world.

There's also a plethora of niche dating sites, catering to singles of various religious faiths, geographic location, educational background and special interests. If politics is your thing, there's DemocraticDating.com and RepublicanDating.com. You can seek a lifelong horseback riding companion on www.EquestrianSingles.com, rev your engine at www.Harley-Match.com, or double-date with your pooch on www.DoggieDating.com.

And if you're married and looking for philandering thrills, www.AshleyMadison.com and several other sites will cater to your cheating heart.

Miller was therefore shocked six months ago, when he found that there wasn't an online dating site just for farmers. "Farming is something that you either want as a lifestyle or don't, and that's what makes this site relevant," he says.

"You either know what it's like to work from the crack of down 'til the sun goes down or you don't. You either know the pressure to get your job done at harvest season, or the lifestyle isn't for you."

Miller and his wife of 27 years have raised three children. Though the 52-year-old Cleveland resident might talk like a farmer, he's actually an advertising man with agricultural clients, including the Alpaca Owners & Breeders Association, that take him to plenty of farms.

"I work with more than 4,000 farmers through my business," he says.

Several months before he created the site, a divorced farmer was telling him of her dating woes and how she just couldn't find a guy who could appreciate the lifestyle.

While other online services allow members to search for companions in particular professions, Miller believes that rural folks -- and people who want to return to farm life -- need a special place.

FarmersOnly.com has a substantial non-farming membership -- many work or want to live in rural communities. One lady describes herself as a third-generation farmer, who wants to correct "the mistake" of moving to a big city.

Just like other dating sites, homosexuals are welcome to find companionship, and a handful have already posted profiles.

Now, with 30-day free trial offers, and monthly memberships starting at just $4.99, Miller believes he'll soon have enough of a customer base to hire a full time employee.

"We're still small, but we're at the point where I'm pretty sure this thing is going to make it," he says. "I hear from members now that they meet up with each other at trade shows, and things like that. We're definitely welcomed as part of a community."