TD: Since it's origin the page has been widely popular and has grown to an incredible 55k followers! What made it take off so quickly? 

BB: Seeing a naked person sure does catch your attention right? Especially when it’s a naked farmer! I believe that the page has gained a lot of followers because we want to support our farmers. The Naked Farmer page gives a light, fun and very unique way to showcase that.


TD: You've used the pages huge following as a platform to promote mental health within the agricultural industry. Was the intention always to use TNF to promote mental health or did that idea come later? 

BB: The day I started the Instagram page (12th of May 2017) my plan was to get peoples attention through these images and to get them to read the captions. The goal initially was to help educate those in more non rural areas about where their food and fibre comes from, and the farmers that go through the hardships to provide it for us. A month or so later most of the followers were the farmers themselves and as those followers grew and grew I knew I needed to do something to help within the agriculture industry that I love so much. Having dealt with mental health myself, and seen the effects it has on people in my family and community, it's something I’m so passionate about.


TD: You mention that you've personally been touched by mental health issues and on your website you say that when your family home burnt down it became a turning point for you. What was it about that experience that drove you to where you are now? 

BB:Yes that’s right. Growing up, anxiety was something I had always struggled with. It got so bad I couldn’t even walk into shops and stores in my local town. It wasn’t until bit over two years ago when I lost my family farm home that this changed. Really broke me and my family seeing all our history for generations all in ash. We lost everything. The only thing I had was the clothes on my back, my tennis racquet's and my ute. Several months later we decided to rebuild, and my grandparents and my dad gave me the job of being in charge of the build, something I knew I couldn’t do. I knew I couldn’t make phone calls or talk to random people. I didn’t want to let my family down though which pushed me to just do it. I had to talk to builders, I had to go into stores to choose out tiles and carpet, I got pushed wayyyyy out of my comfort zone. This is where things really turned and I became more confident. I surprised myself in what I could do and I was a whole different person. Even my family noticed and were amazed. Something so negative as our home burning down created something positive. I believe there is always a positive in a negative, we just have to find it.