Meet the SLO County farmer who wants a wife — and went on a dating show to find her
A Morro Bay farmer looking for love will make his debut on a new season of the dating show “Farmer Wants a Wife” this Thursday.
Matt Warren, 30, is a first-generation avocado and exotic fruit farmer whose family owns a 132-acre farm in Morro Bay and a 70-acre farm in Visalia.
“I’m just kind of a regular Central Coast guy,” he told The Tribune during a visit to his farm on March 5. “I have a wonderful family, got a bunch of nieces and nephews, a good career going on. This area is really important to me, and I think finding someone that shares that is something that’s, you know, kind of critical for me.”
He’s one of four farmers featured on Season 3 of the Fox TV show, in which farmers are set up on dates with women interested in country living.
While filming the season, the farmers met prospective matches at a speed-dating event, a country ball and an overnight camping mixer. Each farmer also hosted a handful of women on their farm to learn about the lifestyle.
When asked why someone should marry him, Warren flashed a wry smile and said: “There’s probably a lot of good reasons not to.”
But really, he was looking for someone to share in the responsibility of caring for the family farm — which overlooks rolling, green hills just miles from the ocean.
“It’s a pretty easy place to love, so it’s not hard to convince anyone of that,” he said. “But just, being here, being interested in farming and living this kind of lifestyle and wanting to raise a family in this type of way — that’s important.”
The dating show was hosted by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, the actress who starred in the Steve Martin movie “Father of the Bride” and wife of country singer Brad Paisley.
Season 3 will premier on Thursday, March 20, at 9 p.m. on Fox, while also streaming on Hulu, Fox.com, Tubi and On Demand.
Why not the dating apps?
Instead of signing up for one of the dating apps, Warren joined the TV show to broaden his horizons and meet women that he otherwise wouldn’t.
“There’s obviously plenty of really beautiful girls in this area,” he said. “But, you know, I’ve been around here for awhile, and as big as San Luis Obispo seems, it’s limited in my age bracket as well. So, I got approached for this opportunity, and you know, it’s like — this is a pretty unique way to meet women from all over the country.”
Every day of filming, Warren got dressed up and taped a microphone to his chest — which he wore for the entire day.
“It was kind of nerve-racking, but I got used to it,” he said.
Warren enjoyed meeting new people on the show — from the women he dated, to the other three farmers, to the film crew — but it was stressful to date so many women at once, he said.
“I wouldn’t do it again,” he said. “I had to make sure I was divvying up time appropriately and trying to get to know each one of them and give everyone a fair shot, because these girls left their jobs, left their family, left kind of everything to come and move here for a month.”
He said filming felt like “a roller coaster.”
“Not only are you filming and you’re traveling and you’re doing all this stuff, but you’re dealing with people’s emotions, and in a big way. I’m, like, responsible for how these girls are feeling,” he said.
An unexpected element of the experience was the friendships he formed with the three other farmers on the show, he said.
“They’re going through the same exact thing, and you really can’t, like, talk to anyone else about that,” Warren said. “It was really fun. We’d meet up at these mixers and get to see them again. Like, have a beer and be like, ‘Dude, what’s going on at your place?’”
Warren said he hopes viewers enjoy the show — and he’ll be watching it for the first time alongside them.
“Just bear with me. I don’t really remember what I said. I think I forgot probably half of the things that I was saying,” he said with a chuckle. “So, it’s gonna be fun. I get to watch it with everyone else. I don’t get any sneak peeks.”
Introducing the family farm
Warren originally worked in real estate, but he took up farming a few years ago when his sister-in-law’s parents died, the news release said.
Warren, his brother and sister-in-law now work together to manage Shanley Farms.
The 132-acre farm in Morro Bay grows avocados and exotic fruits using a method called layered agriculture, “a sustainable practice that maximizes land use by pairing complementary crops,” the Shanley Farms website said.
Shanley Farms grows coffee beans between groves of avocado trees, so the trees provide shade for the coffee plant and the two crops can share water, Warren said.
“A lot of them can share the same nutrients, the same irrigation, the same care from your labor,” he said.
Meanwhile, passion fruit grow on the fences that protect the other crops, while the farmers plant dragon fruit at the base of failed avocado trees — so the vine-like cactus plant can climb up the tree and drop the fuchsia fruit each summer.
“We only have so much land to work with here, and so we want to make the most out of it,” Warren said.
Shanley Farms also grows Citriburst Finger Limes, a citrus fruit native to Australia.
Morro Bay’s mild climate allows the trees to thrive, Warren said.
The fruit are about the size and shape of a finger with an outside layer similar to a lime rind. He recommended adding them to cocktails, oysters, tacos and guacamole.
“When you open them up, there’s hundreds of little pearls, almost like caviar, and each pearl pops with, like, a lemon-lime juice,” he said. “We hope that one day, finger limes are just a staple in everyone’s diet.”
Local restaurant featured in dating show
One episode of the TV show will feature a date at Seeds, a restaurant in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo.
There, Warren met up with a surprise guest who had the chance to persuade him to replace one of the women on the show with herself, Seeds owner Rammy Aburashed told The Tribune.
Seeds reserved a few tables for the date, but left the rest of the restaurant open for customers who signed a waiver agreeing to appear in the background of the show.
Another segment of the show was filmed at the Madonna Inn, but they can’t share details until it airs, Madonna Inn marketing manager Amanda Rich said.
Aburashed said he’s excited for San Luis Obispo County to be featured on the show.
“Morro Bay is a hidden gem, and especially that property,” he said. “It’s an emotional story, and I’m excited for everyone locally to hear about it.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
