This year's Open Farm Sunday was officially a record breaker, with increased visitor numbers, and greater reach across Britain than ever before.
LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) havebeen reviewing feedback from both farmers and visitors and, have recorded that just over 207,000 people visited a farm on Open Farm Sunday – a three per cent increase on last year’s numbers.
375 farms opened up across every corner of the UK on 8 June, with some farmers reporting that more visitors were travelling further out of urban areas to visit a farm.
Rona Amiss, from Tregullas Farm on The Lizard in Cornwall, who hosted the most-southerly Open Farm Sunday event, said: “I’ve always been a big fan of Open Farm Sunday. It’s just so rewarding to reach out to all our customers and make them aware of how we are farming so they come to understand and respect what we’re trying to do.
'The most surprising, and pleasing thing was the support we got from the local community and from other farmers – it was quite amazing. People are already talking about next year’s Open Farm Sunday.'
Annabel Shackleton, Open Farm Sunday manager at LEAF, said: “Open Farm Sunday continues to go from strength to strength, and it is fantastic that we have set new records for visitor numbers again this year, and it’s encouraging to see that people from more urban areas are travelling some distance to visit a farm and learn where their food comes from and how its produced.
'Lots of people we’ve been talking to have said they can’t wait for next year so we think Open Farm Sunday’s tenth anniversary in 2015 is going to be something quite special. We hope that the successes of this year will encourage even more farmers to get involved. The more farms that open up the more people we can inform and inspire about the great job farmers do to produce our food in sustainable ways that protect our wonderful countryside and the wildlife that lives there.”
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