The total num­ber of vis­i­tors to a farm for LEAF Open Farm Sun­day over the last 13 years has now reached over 2.2 mil­lion, demon­strat­ing the enor­mous impact the day has on con­nect­ing the pub­lic with farm­ing and where their food comes from.

For LEAF Open Farm Sun­day 2018, a total of 362 farms opened across the coun­try to wel­come vis­i­tors. Of those farms which opened, 26% were tak­ing part for the first time. 

Events spanned all shapes, sizes and enter­prise; from organ­ised walks for a few local peo­ple, to larg­er events with vis­i­tors in the hun­dreds and thou­sands – but the pop­u­lar­i­ty of the day was reflect­ed in the aver­age num­ber of vis­i­tors to each event which was 811, the high­est on record. 

LEAF Open Farm Sun­day Man­ag­er Annabel Shack­le­ton said: ​“We are thrilled that more peo­ple than ever before chose to vis­it a LEAF Open Farm Sun­day event this year. These fig­ures show the public’s grow­ing inter­est in, and sup­port for, British farm­ing and all that it deliv­ers. It was also great to see so many farms open­ing for the first time and we hope that even more will do so next year on the 9^th June. LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for farm­ers to show­case all they do and it is vital that as many farm­ers get involved as pos­si­ble. Our thanks to every­one – farm­ers, vol­un­teers and spon­sors — for mak­ing 2018 such a huge suc­cess and we look for­ward to your con­tin­ued sup­port in 2019.” 

Click here to read the full press release.