On Sun­day 20^th Sep­tem­ber, hun­dreds of farms are open­ing their gates across the coun­try for farming’s annu­al open day – LEAF Open Farm Sun­day. A chance for every­one to see behind the gates of a work­ing farm and pay trib­ute to our farm­ers who keep us sup­plied with nutri­tious food. LEAF Open Farm Sun­day cel­e­brates all that British farm­ers do for us – from grow­ing crops, to car­ing for the environment. 

LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is now in its 15^th year and the organ­is­ers, LEAF (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing) are call­ing on the pub­lic to vis­it a farm on the 20^th Sep­tem­ber, to dis­cov­er the world of farm­ing and to say thank you to the farm­ers and their col­leagues, for all that they do for us. 

Each LEAF Open Farm Sun­day event is dif­fer­ent – from the type of farm, to the activ­i­ties avail­able. These can include guid­ed farm walks and nature trails, dis­plays of impres­sive high-tech machin­ery, sheep shear­ing and trac­tor and trail­er rides. They all offer a chance to talk to farm­ers who are respon­si­ble for pro­duc­ing not just the food we eat but also many oth­er crops we need for our every­day lives, includ­ing clothes, fuel and medicines.

Find out what farm­ers do to keep soil, plants and live­stock healthy. Get up close to pol­li­na­tors like bees and but­ter­flies that farm­ers nur­ture, to ensure we have plen­ti­ful crops includ­ing fruit and vegetables.

Annabel Shack­le­ton, Man­ag­er for LEAF Open Farm Sun­day said: ​“This year’s LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is first and fore­most a cel­e­bra­tion of UK farm­ing and all it deliv­ers. But this year, more than ever, it also pro­vides a huge­ly pow­er­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to say thank you. British farm­ers and the thou­sands of peo­ple who work on farms, have sus­tained us and our fam­i­lies over the recent cri­sis. They have brought us fresh fruit, veg­eta­bles, dairy pro­duce and meat at times of extreme pres­sure. They enabled us to pro­vide healthy nutri­tious meals for our loved ones and the most vul­ner­a­ble in soci­ety. They have looked after our coun­try­side, cared for and pro­tect­ed the wildlife that live there. When we are out of lock­down and once again able to get out and enjoy the fab­u­lous British coun­try­side, LEAF Open Farm Sun­day will be the per­fect way to do this.”

LEAF Open Farm Sun­day takes place on 20^th Sep­tem­ber 2020 — vis­it www​.farm​sun​day​.org to find a farm open­ing near you. 

The full press release can be found here.