It’s been a tur­bu­lent year for the British agri­cul­tur­al indus­try with ris­ing cost of fuel and fer­tilis­er, chal­lenges around labour, unpre­dictable weath­er and polit­i­cal changes, many of which are still unknown. The con­tin­u­ous uncer­tain­ty is some­thing that can­not be tak­en light­ly, by farm­ers, by the indus­try, and by the media.

With the image and per­cep­tion of British food and farm­ing ever-chang­ing, it is more impor­tant than ever that 2023 offers some focus and direction. 

Over the last few years, the cre­ativ­i­ty of dig­i­tal media has leaped to the fore­front of show­cas­ing very best prac­tice in farm­ing and food pro­duc­tion, mar­ket­ing diver­si­fi­ca­tions, and dis­pelling the lat­est myths of the moment. In a world where peo­ple are dig­i­tal­ly exhaust­ed, LEAF Open Farm Sun­day (LOFS) has sprung back into the lime­light, offer­ing a chance for peo­ple to awak­en their sens­es and tru­ly dis­cov­er the world of farming. 

As Car­o­line Drum­mond, for­mer Chief Exec­u­tive of LEAF (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing), so often said, ​“We are unique­ly placed as a farm­ing indus­try to offer some­thing to the pub­lic that is a tru­ly 5D expe­ri­ence, touch­ing all of our senses.”

On 12^th June, over 250 farms opened their gates for LOFS, wel­com­ing over 175,000 peo­ple onto farms across Britain to learn, expe­ri­ence, taste, smell, feel, and appre­ci­ate great British farm­ing. Farms of all enter­pris­es and sizes took part from crofts and small­hold­ings, to arable, dairy, hor­ti­cul­ture and poul­try, and every­thing in between. 

As an indus­try, invit­ing the pub­lic on farm is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to stand up and show­case the work farm­ers do to pro­duce healthy, nutri­tious and sus­tain­able food whilst also enhanc­ing the envi­ron­ment, the wildlife and all that can be found in the coun­try­side. Doing it as part of LOFS means you get all the sup­port, free resources and top tips from farm­ers who have been tak­ing part for years. 

Its not just about edu­cat­ing the pub­lic. The true impact of LOFS is stag­ger­ing, chang­ing con­sumer pur­chas­ing habits, increas­ing aware­ness and trust of British farm­ing, along­side awak­en­ing a thirst for more knowl­edge. LOFS asked vis­i­tors what they took away from vis­it­ing a farm with­in a cou­ple of weeks of the event, and again, three months lat­er, and the results are impressive:

2022 Imme­di­ate impact:

• 85% of vis­i­tors have more trust in British farm­ing, hav­ing vis­it­ed a farm 
• 79% learned some­thing new about farm­ing and food production
• 72% of vis­i­tors told us they feel the indus­try is doing some­thing to help com­bat cli­mate change
• Almost half (49%) said it has inspired some­one in their group to con­sid­er a career in the agri-food sector

Long term impact:

• 98% of vis­i­tors have a bet­ter under­stand­ing of what ​‘sus­tain­ably pro­duced’ food means
• 96% said they have a greater appre­ci­a­tion for, and are more con­nect­ed to farming
• 91% told us they are more aware of, and inter­est­ed in farm­ing issues
• 81% said that as a result of vis­it­ing a farm, they are doing things dif­fer­ent­ly: ​“I have start­ed using my local farm shop, and try­ing to buy only British products.”

Reflect­ing on the sig­nif­i­cant change since LOFS was launched in 2006, Annabel Shack­le­ton, LEAF Open Farm Sun­day Man­ag­er high­lights the grow­ing trends:

“We are see­ing an increas­ing num­ber of farm­ers open­ing their farm gates at var­i­ous points in the farm­ing year, from lamb­ing events to pump­kin patch­es and PYO Christ­mas trees. The recent pan­dem­ic, envi­ron­men­tal con­cerns, and events such as COP26 in Glas­gow, have devel­oped a more con­scious con­sumer, who is seek­ing fac­tu­al­ly cor­rect infor­ma­tion to sup­port their decisions.” 

Annabel believes LEAF Open Farm Sun­day 2023, tak­ing place on Sun­day 11 June, is a safe and sup­port­ed way for farm­ers to inform and inspire the public. 

“Long estab­lished as the farm­ing industry’s annu­al open day, LOFS offers a huge sup­port net­work to assist farm­ers on their jour­ney to wel­com­ing the pub­lic on farm. There is a team of LOFS Ambas­sadors who are on hand and hap­py to chat through their expe­ri­ences and offer guid­ance so each farm­ing busi­ness runs the event they feel is man­age­able and appro­pri­ate for their setup.

“We also offer a whole host of free resources to help pre­pare farm­ers for the event, includ­ing guid­ance for pro­mo­tion, tem­plates, activ­i­ty ideas and resources to use on the day itself, to help inform and enter­tain visitors.”

LOFS is also bring­ing back free farmer train­ing events for 2023, tak­ing place between Feb­ru­ary and April. Farm­ers are invit­ed to come along to net­work with oth­er like-mind­ed farm­ers, learn more about the steps involved in open­ing their farm and pick up ideas from oth­er hosts. Find out more and book your place here: www​.farm​sun​day​.org/​o​p​e​n​-​m​y​-​f​a​r​m​/​t​o​p​-​t​i​p​s​-​a​n​d​-​t​r​a​ining.

Open­ing your farm to the pub­lic does not have to be a huge event for thou­sands of peo­ple. A small farm walk for 30, or an open day for 300 both have a mas­sive, mean­ing­ful impact.

As we move into the New Year, the LOFS team are call­ing on farm­ers to make a real dif­fer­ence and open their gates in 2023.

“We would like to pass on our sin­cere thanks to all of those who played their part in wel­com­ing the pub­lic onto a farm, not just for LOFS, but through­out 2022” added Annabel. ​“As a team, we are huge­ly pas­sion­ate about build­ing bet­ter links with farm­ers and the pub­lic, so togeth­er, with a wealth of knowl­edge about the indus­try, we can deliv­er safe and mean­ing­ful farm visits.”

Reg­is­tra­tions are already open, and the LOFS team would love to hear from you. 

Down­load the full press release here.