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Putting farming in the public eye ‘more important than ever’

Farmers across the UK are being encouraged to help foster greater appreciation for their vital role in food production by registering to take part in Open Farm Sunday on 8 June 2025.

Putting farm­ing in the pub­lic eye more impor­tant than ever’

Farm­ers across the UK are being encour­aged to help fos­ter greater appre­ci­a­tion for their vital role in food pro­duc­tion by reg­is­ter­ing to take part in Open Farm Sun­day on 8 June 2025

As the farm­ing industry’s annu­al flag­ship ini­tia­tive, OFS organ­is­er LEAF (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing) is pro­vid­ing ongo­ing sup­port to host farm­ers to help them con­nect with con­sumers and pro­vide first­hand expe­ri­ence of the val­ue of farm­ing with nature.

The key to success

LEAF Edu­ca­tion spe­cial­ist, Sam Wyman, has trained and sup­port­ed numer­ous farm­ers to host OFS events over the years. He pro­vides reas­sur­ance that tak­ing part is both straight­for­ward and rewarding.

Remem­ber what an amaz­ing resource your farm is when you look at it with a fresh per­spec­tive,” says Mr Wyman.

Even the sim­plest items and tasks – like touch­ing some grain or hold­ing an EID tag – can be tru­ly eye-open­ing for vis­i­tors. You’ll get the most from your event by using a hand­ful of props that engage the sens­es and help you share your knowl­edge in bite­size pieces.”

Enjoy the feel-good factor 

Mr Wyman is clear about the farmer-focused ben­e­fits of pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for curi­ous con­sumers to vis­it local farms.

Every­one I’ve ever worked with to host an OFS event is absolute­ly buzzing at the end of the day. Farmer’s take real pride in what they’re doing and that shines through. This enthu­si­asm is what piques people’s inter­est,” he adds. 

Strength­en pub­lic good­will and trust
Recent OFS data shows that 91% of vis­i­tors are moti­vat­ed to buy more British pro­duce after attend­ing. By giv­ing access and shar­ing sto­ries and exper­tise, farm­ers can direct­ly bridge the knowl­edge gap and rein­force the impor­tance of sup­port­ing local farming.

With over 150,000 vis­i­tors attend­ing OFS events each year, the impact this ini­tia­tive has on the public’s under­stand­ing of sus­tain­able farm­ing is huge,” adds Mr Wyman. 

They’re will­ing to learn, and clear­ly the best per­son to tell the sto­ry of British farm­ing is famers them­selves. Spread­ing that insight and encour­ag­ing appre­ci­a­tion for what farm­ers do, day-in-day-out is more impor­tant than ever.” 

Reg­is­ter today

Farm­ers can reg­is­ter their Open Farm Sun­day event at www​.farm​sun​day​.org and access a wide range of freely avail­able resources, includ­ing webi­na­rs and pro­mo­tion­al mate­ri­als to help make each event a success.

This year, OFS aims to cul­ti­vate con­nec­tions, edu­cate com­mu­ni­ties, and show­case the incred­i­ble role of farm­ers in pro­duc­ing food while regen­er­at­ing nature. Sign up to host an event on 8 June and be part of our OFS com­mu­ni­ty of host farm­ers that puts farm­ing cen­tre stage.

The LEAF Edu­ca­tion team share their five steps to host­ing OFS

  • Ask for help – Don’t be afraid to request sup­port from your net­work. Vets, seed and feed mer­chants, or oth­er local clus­ter farms could all add their exper­tise. Don’t for­get, the LEAF OFS team and Open Farm Sunday’s spon­sors also pro­vide exten­sive FREE resources to help you. 
  • Keep it sim­ple – Be real­is­tic and set expec­ta­tions to have a bril­liant OFS expe­ri­ence that feels man­age­able and reward­ing. If you feel com­fort­able host­ing 20 peo­ple on a farm walk, then stick to that plan. What­ev­er the size of your event, OFS rec­om­mend using a free online tick­et­ing ser­vice to man­age vis­i­tor num­bers and timings.
  • Short and engag­ing sound­bites – Vis­i­tors come in mixed groups, so keep expla­na­tions to two to four min­utes per top­ic and tai­lor con­tent to your audi­ence. Encour­age them to par­tic­i­pate by ask­ing them questions.
  • Inter­ac­tive props - Iden­ti­fy every­day objects or aspects of farm­ing that vis­i­tors can touch, see, and smell, as well as intro­duc­ing hands-on activ­i­ties, such as soil com­par­isons, worm charm­ing or a nature hunt to make learn­ing fun and accessible.
  • Be your­self: The pub­lic appre­ci­ates authen­tic­i­ty. Sim­ply shar­ing what you do day-to-day is more than enough to inspire pub­lic good­will as well as raise aware of how farm­ers are farm­ing with nature.

For the full press release go here

With thanks to our Open Farm Sun­day prin­ci­pal spon­sors: AHDB, Arla Foods, BASF, Co-op, Defra, Fron­tier Agri­cul­ture, John Deere, LEAF Mar­que, M&S, McDonald’s, NFU, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose. 

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