NENT Studios plants The Farm in The Netherlands
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 01 October 2020
In what has become a farmer’s, if not baker’s, dozen of territories for the Covid-friendly format, NPO1 is the latest broadcaster to harvest rights to NENT Studios reality show The Farm.
Nent THEFARM 2 1Oct2020
The show throws a group of men and women together on a farm in a bid to discover the simple life. They have to survive without any luxuries – including running water, electricity or mobile phones - and learn to live off the land. Each week they compete in a series of challenges and every week someone is evicted, until one person is left standing and declared the winner - Farmer of the Year.

Originally created by NENT Studios production company Strix, the format touches on local rural history and focuses on human relationships to deliver a very real type of reality show. It has proved itself highly addictive, entertaining audiences across the globe with versions seen in more than 50 territories since its launch in Scandinavia in 2001.

Localised versions of The Farm are now either on air or in production in practically every territory across the Nordics region and Central and Eastern Europe: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece. The 16th series of the Norwegian version launched on 22 September with a 43.6% share.

The format is distributed by NENT Studios UK with whom Strix has been working alongside to sign a deal with NPO1/KRO-NCRV. The local team moved into a farm in September meaning so that the format will be on air in the highly competitive TV market in the Netherlands in 2021.

Commenting on the new deal, acting Strix Netherlands CEO Inge Leemreize said: “We have loved the format for a long time, but the momentum of 2020 made the time just right for us. The show is spot on for viewers demanding authenticity, plus self-sufficiency is such a hot topic. When times shifted this spring and all shows had to be produced locally, we were able to move fast and get a Dutch production up and running.”