As the sec­tor is work­ing to deter­mine what a post-ref­er­en­dum farm­ing indus­try is going to look like, there has nev­er been a more crit­i­cal time for farm­ers to demon­strate the vital role they play in deliv­er­ing a wide range of pub­lic goods, beyond food pro­duc­tion. This includes man­ag­ing the coun­try­side, its wildlife, our nat­ur­al resources such as water, air and soil, and con­tribut­ing to a sta­ble cli­mate and resilience to flooding. 

Car­o­line Drum­mond, Chief Exec­u­tive of LEAF explains: ​“Open Farm Sun­day pro­vides the per­fect plat­form for farm­ers to shine a light on what they deliv­er and why sup­port­ing British farm­ing mat­ters. Every­one can and should get involved in Open Farm Sun­day, regard­less of the type or size of farm and help the pub­lic dis­cov­er the world of farming.” 

To help more farm­ers host an event, LEAF is devel­op­ing a new pro­gramme of webi­na­rs, blogs, Q&A ses­sions and case stud­ies to give farm­ers the knowl­edge, ideas and con­fi­dence to invite the pub­lic onto their farm. A team of eight Open Farm Sun­day Region­al Co-ordi­na­tors and LEAF staff are on hand to sup­port farmers. 

As the go-to organ­i­sa­tion deliv­er­ing sus­tain­able farm­ing, LEAF is devel­op­ing activ­i­ty ideas and resources to help host farm­ers show the pub­lic what sus­tain­able farm­ing is all about. 

Annabel Shack­le­ton, LEAF’s Open Farm Sun­day Man­ag­er added, ​“Farm­ing is a sec­tor which impacts on all our lives, yet so many peo­ple know so lit­tle about it. From our research it is clear that Open Farm Sun­day is help­ing to bridge the gap between farm­ing and the pub­lic. This year’s vis­i­tor feed­back high­light­ed that one in five had nev­er vis­it­ed a farm before and near­ly 90% of them learnt some­thing new about farm­ing and food pro­duc­tion dur­ing their visit.” 

“All farm­ers can get involved — whether host­ing a farm walk for 20 or more neigh­bours, or open­ing for hun­dreds of vis­i­tors, each event is equal­ly impor­tant. LEAF’s Open Farm Sun­day will have an increas­ing­ly impor­tant role in the industry’s pub­lic engage­ment activ­i­ties as we face a new, chal­leng­ing, yet excit­ing era as we pre­pare to leave the Euro­pean Union.” 

For more infor­ma­tion on how to get involved or to reg­is­ter an Open Farm Sun­day event from 1^st Novem­ber, vis­it www​.farm​sun​day​.org. To keep up to date on Twit­ter fol­low @OpenFarmSunday, @LEAF_Farming and @AnnabelOFS  

Click here for the full press release.