George the Farmer Brings His Popular Character from Paddock to Field Days

George the Farmer
goes to the field days

From the paddock to classrooms, music to podcasts, live shows to TV, George the Farmer is one very popular character.

George the Farmer is an old friend of Hutcheon & Pearce. He’s been joining us at Henty Machinery Field Days since 2018 and his popularity with visitors to our site continues to soar. But it’s been a minute since we checked in with founder Simone Kain to see what else is happening in the life of George the Farmer.

Based in regional South Australia, Simone first conceived of George the Farmer back in 2012 when toddler wrangling her farm-obsessed son, George. Born of a desire to provide Aussie kids on the land with stories and characters they could identify with and to help all kids learn more about agriculture and where our food and fibre comes from, George and his agronomist wife Dr. Ruby first appeared in the public eye with the launch of the book George the Farmer Plants a Wheat Crop.

Telling the tale of a near catastrophe while planting the wheat crop, the story helped teach readers how wheat gets from the paddock to the plate as pasta and pizza. The book was so popular that the second instalment George the Farmer Shears a Sheep, was released shortly after and both titles remain two of the most popular ‘George’ products to date.

Since those early picture books, George the Farmer has turned into a multi-faceted educational entertainment brand, with kids and adults across the globe keen to see what comes next in the world of George. From 15 storybooks (and counting) stocked throughout Australia, USA and Canada, to music and an evergrowing number of songs for streaming; from paddock-to-plate videos available on YouTube and ABCTV to nationally touring performances; from 11 free Australian school curriculum-aligned educator resources to cuddle dolls, clothing and merchandise – there’s plenty to keep team George busy. But Simone tells us there’s even more exciting things to come for George and friends as they approach their 10-year anniversary.

For your chance to catch up with George the Farmer (and Simone) in person, be sure to drop by the Hutcheon & Pearce site at AgQuip or Henty. George will be performing two live shows daily and there’ll be plenty of books and goodies to get your hands on, too.

“I’m currently working on the next three board books to be released in October and we’re soon to release another curriculum resource. I’ve had a couple of meetings recently with New Zealand ag educators to convert our resources to the NZ curriculum and educators in Scotland and US have also reached out, so we’ll see what’s possible there.

“My focus recently, though, has been our podcast launching in August and the opening of a George the Farmer concept store in Penola in July.” Fortunately for his fans on the land (and some in the city, too), George still finds time to hit the road for guest appearances.

“We’ve got a new musician joining the team and we’re looking forward to the live performances coming up in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. We had our first run at Perth Royal Show last year and it was a lot of fun, so we’re looking forward to heading back. Of course, we’re also back at AgQuip in Tamworth and my personal favourite – the Henty Machinery Field Days.”

While she is proud to be part of kids’ learning journey through educational resources, Simone says there’s something special about touring the show.

“We get a lot of really positive feedback about how obsessed kids are with George – that they’ve found something they can truly identify with. Of course, we love hearing those stories, but nothing quite compares to experiencing it firsthand – seeing those little faces engaging with George, all dressed up in their George and Ruby costumes. I still love performing for that reason.

“Shows are also important for us because we get to speak with the fans and learn what they like, what books they are enjoying etcetera. Henty is always a great event, and we just keep getting more and more fans turning up, especially last year post COVID.

“Everyone at Hutcheon & Pearce is used to us being there now and they really look after us, increasing the space in the marquee for us year-on-year. We almost feel like part of the family these days!”