Lead­ing fig­ures from food and farm­ing gath­ered at the House of Lords on 4 Decem­ber for a recep­tion cel­e­brat­ing 18 suc­cess­ful years of Open Farm Sun­day and the unveil­ing of LEAF’s (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing) new strat­e­gy for the industry’s flag­ship annu­al open day.

The recep­tion host­ed by long-time sup­port­er Lord Don­ald Cur­ry, aimed to fos­ter deep­er col­lab­o­ra­tion and com­mit­ment among key stake­hold­ers, rein­forc­ing the impor­tance of pub­lic trust and com­mu­ni­ty con­nec­tions to deliv­er a more resilient sup­ply chain.

For­mer NFU Mutu­al chair, Lord Cur­ry, stressed the impor­tance of con­tin­u­ing efforts to bridge the gap between con­sumers and farm­ers and the valu­able role that Open Farm Sun­day plays in increas­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty and under­stand­ing of sus­tain­able, cli­mate pos­i­tive farming.

A new cam­paign theme, ​‘Cul­ti­vat­ing Con­nec­tions’ was announced by LEAF’s chief exec­u­tive, David Web­ster, while out­lin­ing a trans­for­ma­tive vision for Open Farm Sunday. 

“Our new strat­e­gy aligns with LEAF’s objec­tives to con­nect, build trust, and edu­cate the pub­lic on sus­tain­able farm­ing prac­tices,” said Mr Webster.

“Open Farm Sun­day is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for retail­ers and brand­ed man­u­fac­tur­ers across the food sup­ply chain to come togeth­er and build links between the pub­lic and the farms that sup­ply their businesses. 

“By cul­ti­vat­ing con­nec­tions across the food sup­ply chain Open Farm Sun­day has helped con­nect hun­dreds of thou­sands of peo­ple to farm­ing and food production.

“We want to inspire a deep­er appre­ci­a­tion of how farm­ers are work­ing with nature to pro­tect and regen­er­ate our envi­ron­ment while pro­duc­ing the food we all need to live. Now in our eigh­teenth year, Open Farm Sun­day is a unique and pow­er­ful moment in time to show­case the intrin­sic con­nec­tions between food, farm­ing and nature. Food con­nects us all.”

Open Farm Sun­day man­ag­er, Annabel Shack­le­ton, high­light­ed the vital role spon­sors have played since the industry’s flag­ship day launched in 2006. Their sup­port has made it pos­si­ble to deliv­er a total of 6,087 events and wel­come 3.25 mil­lion visitors. 

Mrs Shack­le­ton spoke of the ambi­tion to expand the num­ber of farms par­tic­i­pat­ing and open­ing their farm gates to the pub­lic. She intro­duced two host farm­ers who shared their expe­ri­ences of con­nect­ing with their local com­mu­ni­ties and the ben­e­fit it deliv­ers through show­cas­ing how they farm with nature.

The event con­clud­ed with Mr Web­ster thank­ing atten­dees; ​“Open Farm Sun­day has incred­i­ble sup­port from a cross-sec­tion of the whole food and farm­ing indus­try and we’re grate­ful for the role every­one plays. 

“For me, this event is all about hold­ing our heads high and say­ing, ​‘What we do real­ly mat­ters.’ That, I believe, is worth celebrating.” 

Next year’s Open Farm Sun­day takes place on 8 June dur­ing LEAF’s edu­ca­tion­al Farm­ing Fort­night pro­gramme. Reg­is­tra­tions are now open, or for more infor­ma­tion vis­it www​.farm​sun​day​.org.

Read the press release.
Read the asso­ci­at­ed opin­ion piece in The Gro­cer Mag­a­zine, writ­ten by David Web­ster, LEAF Chief Executive