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By Newsweek Editors
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John Price is six feet tall and ruggedly handsome. With a quick wit and successful career, the 35-year-old bachelor would be a prize on the urban dating circuit. But when it comes to romance, he's missing in action. On his job--tending hogs and hauling manure on the family farm in Ohio--he just doesn't get a chance to meet women. And he's not a drinker, so the bar scene is out. The nights can get lonely for Price, a former college basketball player and an avid cyclist who is divorced and hasn't dated seriously for 18 months. "I'd go out on a date once with just about anyone," he says.
There are plenty of lonely hearts on the farm, unhappily single and often stuck in remote places. Now an Internet dating service, OnlyFarmers.com, offers them the chance to find a social life. Meeting people is only half the battle, says Jerry Miller, an advertising man in suburban Cleveland who created the service last spring. "There's the whole farm way of life. A lot of city people don't have a clue."
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Even in a place like Boise, Idaho, a city of 185,000, Alisha Jensen, 23, couldn't find a man able to connect with a ranch gal like her. "I'm looking for a guy who can bait his own hook," she says. Scott Avara, a 25-year-old on the Colorado plains, had the same complaint about women. "It's getting so you can't find a woman willing to go outdoors anymore," he says. "I want someone who likes to hunt, fish and rodeo." The two found each other through FarmersOnly. They have been e-mailing, talking on the phone and exchanging photos. They'll meet in person soon.
Though it's designed for farmers, the dating service is open to anyone. Price says it would be nice to meet a farm woman. But he's not ruling out a hot city girl either. "Oh, that would be fine," he says. "A professional golfer would work, too." There is one catch. The woman of his dreams would need to move to the farm. He's a fifth-generation farmer, and not about to go anywhere. He also puts in a lot of hours. "With livestock," he says, "you work 365 days a year." But business is good. Besides raising pigs, Price markets a brand of compost--Barnyard Cafe made with manure, wood chips and coffee grounds. The idea of living in the country might not suit some women, but it's 320 acres of picturesque rolling hills on the Scioto River. And for a hog operation, Price says, it smells better than people might think.
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