What does the future of farming in Ireland look like?
Sophie Bell is a young farmer from County Cavan who took on the running of her family farm at just 17, while finishing her Leaving Cert.
Today, she’s balancing farming with a career in social media, speaking about agriculture across Ireland and Europe, and rethinking what it means to build a sustainable life from the land.
We talk about the pressure on farmers to have a second income, why farming can feel more like a culture than a career, and the barriers facing the next generation.
Sophie also shares what she learned from researching the impact of bovine TB on farmers, what it's like being a young woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and how social media has opened doors she never expected.
And then we get into what she's changing on the farm — moving away from commodity pricing and towards a model where she has more control over what the farm earns, how it operates, and where it goes next.
A conversation about farming, money, gender, social media, and what happens when you stop accepting that things have to be done the way they've always been done.
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_harrisongardner
Website: https://www.harrisongardner.net/
Bookstore: https://www.harrisongardner.net/bookstore-1
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https://www.harrisongardner.net/heat-shelter-water-food
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00:00 – Teaser
00:55 – Introduction
02:47 – Sophie’s 56-Acre Farm in County Cavan
05:25 – Why Do Farmers Need a Second Income?
07:50 – The Next Generation of Farmers
10:10 – Passing the Farm to the Next Generation
13:15 – Who Gets Taught to Be a Farmer?
18:35 – Is Farming a Career or a Culture?
23:25 – How Social Media Changed Sophie’s Farm
26:35 – The Hidden Cost of Bovine TB
33:10 – “I Thought I Wasn’t Allowed to Be a Farmer”
35:47 – Taking Over the Farm at 17
38:42 – Being Taken Seriously as a Young Woman
45:37 – Advice for Young Women in Farming
48:08 – Why Farming Needs More Alternative Ideas
56:30 – Sophie’s Work With the EU and UN
01:03:19 – A Different Way to Make Farming Pay
01:06:10 – For the First Time, the Farm Isn’t Struggling
01:08:35 – The Future of Wool in Ireland
01:12:30 – Taking Back Control
01:14:10 – What Sustainable Farming Should Look Like
01:15:11 – Outro
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