The count­down to Open Farm Sun­day, the farm­ing industry’s annu­al flag­ship ini­tia­tive is well under­way, with event organ­is­er LEAF (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing) encour­ag­ing farm­ers not to miss out on host­ing an event this June.

Open Farm Sun­day man­ag­er, Annabel Shack­le­ton under­lines the impor­tance of the day for pro­vid­ing a fan­tas­tic oppor­tu­ni­ty to devel­op deep­er con­nec­tions with the public.

“Invit­ing peo­ple on farm, no mat­ter how few or how many, is a sure­fire way to help put pub­lic per­cep­tion of farm­ing on the right track,” says Mrs Shackleton.

“Our farm­ers pro­duce nutri­tious food that we can fun­da­men­tal­ly trust by main­tain­ing incred­i­bly high stan­dards, all while work­ing hard to farm sus­tain­ably and safe­guard nature. These impor­tant achieve­ments deserve show­cas­ing,” she adds.

“Our LEAF Mar­que cer­ti­fied farms make a real dif­fer­ence to nature while pro­duc­ing nutri­tious food — ded­i­cat­ing at least 15% of their land to nat­ur­al habi­tats that help restore ecosys­tems and strength­en the resilience of our landscapes.” 

“By keep­ing farm­ing front of mind, Open Farm Sun­day helps fos­ter last­ing trust and appre­ci­a­tion among con­sumers about the vital role farm­ers play in pro­duc­ing nutri­tious and safe food while work­ing in har­mo­ny with nature,” she adds.

Reg­is­tra­tion and a wide range of freely down­load­able resources and guid­ance is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble via the Open Farm Sun­day web­site. From webi­nar record­ings to pro­mo­tion­al mate­ri­als, every­thing is designed to help farm­ers take part in a way which suits them and their farm, and make each event a pos­i­tive day to remem­ber for all involved. The LEAF team is on hand to pro­vide ongo­ing sup­port, while vis­i­tor num­bers and tim­ings can be eas­i­ly man­aged through the free Try­book­ing online tick­et­ing service.

“We know we can influ­ence con­sumer atti­tudes – sur­vey data from last year’s Open Farm Sun­day shows that 87% of vis­i­tors left with greater trust in British farm­ing, and 91% felt moti­vat­ed to buy more British pro­duce as a result. 

“Our vis­i­tor research shows that farm­ers hold the key to people’s com­mit­ment to sup­port British farm­ing. By host­ing Open Farm Sun­day, you can turn that key and cul­ti­vate stronger com­mu­ni­ty con­nec­tions that pro­mote farming’s com­mit­ment to a more sus­tain­able approach while dri­ving demand for pro­duce grown and reared in the UK,” adds Mrs Shackleton.

To show the pub­lic what farm­ing is all about on the 8 June, reg­is­ter to host an Open Farm Sun­day event at www​.farm​sun​day​.org and help cre­ate a last­ing, pos­i­tive impres­sion of the industry. 

Down­load the full press release here.