Our Story

Indie Farmer began with a simple question:
How do we tell better stories about farming — and the people behind our food?

In 2013, much of the conversation around agriculture felt distant from everyday experience. Farming was often framed through policy, protest or production figures, while the lived reality — the decisions made in fields, farmyards and kitchens — was rarely heard.

Indie Farmer was created to make space for those voices.

Founded by farmer and journalist Nigel Akehurst, the magazine set out to document independent farmers, growers and food producers working at human scale — people finding their own ways to farm, often outside the mainstream, shaped by land, place and community.

From road trip to farm gate

In the summer of 2014, shortly after launching Indie Farmer, Nigel set off on a six-week journey around the UK on his scooter, Veronica, meeting farmers and food producers along the way.

The trip proved to be a turning point.

Conversations around kitchen tables, walks through fields, and long days spent listening reshaped his understanding of what farming could be — and what it demanded. Inspired by the people he met, Nigel made the decision to leave city life and return to the small family farm in East Sussex where he grew up.

He arrived back not as an expert, but as a beginner with ideas and a willingness to learn.

The realities of livestock, grass, weather and markets soon followed. Those early lessons would go on to shape both his farming and his storytelling, grounding Indie Farmer firmly in lived experience rather than theory.

Farming alongside storytelling

Alongside running the magazine, Nigel began working more closely with his parents at Hockham Farm in the High Weald, encouraging the family to establish a small herd of Sussex cattle alongside their mainly continental cows.

Starting with a handful of pedigree Sussex heifers, the herd has grown steadily over time, with beef now sold directly to customers through regular farm-gate sales and meat boxes.

Working the land day to day has brought a deeper understanding of the tensions modern farmers face — between economics and ecology, independence and scale, tradition and change.

These lived experiences continue to shape the perspective of Indie Farmer.

The magazine is not written from the sidelines, but from within the working landscape itself.

Growing into a community

Over the years, Indie Farmer has evolved from a personal project into a growing community of readers, contributors, photographers and filmmakers.

The magazine has published long-form features, documentary photography and short films from farms across the UK — telling stories of regenerative transitions, direct sales, rural resilience and the people navigating them.

While the formats have expanded, the purpose has remained the same: to tell honest stories about farming as it is lived today — complex, demanding, hopeful and human.

Looking ahead

Indie Farmer remains proudly independent.

As the publication continues to grow, its focus remains on slow journalism, thoughtful storytelling and meaningful connection between people and land — whether through digital features, film projects, events or future print editions.

At a time when food systems feel increasingly disconnected, Indie Farmer exists to help bridge that gap — one story at a time.