Unashamedly nicked from Wales' national newspaper, The Western Mail, this article just needs to be shared.

LONELY hearts farmers are to appear on the side of milk cartons to help them in their search for love.

Missing person appeals have successfully been placed on the side of milk bottles for decades, now shoppers will be able to pick up a date when they get their pinta.

"Fancy a Farmer?" stickers will appear on Calon Wen's range of organic milk, featuring the faces of rural singletons who are looking for love.

The stickers include details of how shoppers can get in touch.

Iwan Jones, whose own lonely hearts advert might read - farmer, 30, likes backpacking, listening to The Killers/Norah Jones, WLTM easy going woman, not too thin - is a director of Calon Wen, and runs a 250-acre dairy farm at Groes in Denbigh.

He said the "lonely hearts" stickers were a similar idea to the missing persons ones that have already appeared on milk cartons UK-wide.

Iwan said, "The Welsh countryside is a great place to live, with stunning scenery, but it can be a hard place to find a date, as I'm finding out.

"The stickers idea started off as a joke when I mentioned that unless people find partners, there might not be many family farms left to pass on in Wales in future.

"But the idea snowballed when other singletons agreed and wanted to appear on the milk cartons, as well as myself.

"Although it can sometimes seem like most farmers are married, it turns out there are a lot of single rural people.

"The ratio of men to women is skewed where I live because a lot of young women have moved to other areas like Cardiff to find work after leaving college.

"I've been through the clubbing scene in my early 20s and had a few relationships while at Aberystwyth University, where I studied business and agriculture.

"Running a dairy farm can be a tie, although I do get some nights out to Ruthin and Chester. If I met a nice partner I would be prepared to travel - I have had long distance relationships in the past.

"I have just turned 30, an age that makes you think a bit about settling down."

The group decided to launch their venture to coincide with St Dwynwen's Day - the Welsh day for lovers.

They hope they might get a date for the big day but if they don't manage to pull in interest from superstores, they won't mind as long as they get the message across that online dating is not something to be embarrassed about.

Calon Wen (pure heart) has joined forces with a Welsh online dating agency to help farmers both male and female find that special someone.

By logging onto www.pishyn.com they can find out more about meeting the farmer of their dreams, in Welsh and English.

Iwan added, "We want to encourage farmers to consider online dating and thought by getting involved ourselves we could help to make it less of a stigma and make it lighter.

"When you get talking to friends about online dating, it is surprising how many people have tried it."

Iwan and four other singletons spent two hours placing a few thousand stickers of themselves onto milk cartons as they came off a conveyor belt this week.

He said, "We underwent a lengthy health and safety check, the cartons were moving really fast, so we needed to be quick."

Iwan who supports Wrexham FC, likes to watch Wales play in rugby internationals and enjoys travelling, is hoping to find a non-materialistic girl.

He said, "I have no set ideas on what I'm looking for in a partner. I'd rather she wasn't too thin.

"I enjoy travel and spent a month in New Zealand last year which was fantastic.

"I like exploring Europe too and enjoy good Welsh food. The scheme is anonymous to the degree that our names and details are not on the stickers, just our faces.

"Anyone wanting a date can access the website. The others are all better looking than me so I will probably be the only carton left on the shelf."

But readers and shoppers have the chance to prove Iwan wrong.