Open Farm Sunday 2014 will soon be upon us. Run by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), the project has seen hundreds of farmers across the UK opening up their farm for one Sunday each year since 2006. It is a fantastic opportunity for everyone, young and old, to discover at first hand what it means to be a farmer.
In this special guest blog, farmer and RSPB member Michael Sly tells us why Open Farm Sunday is a great way to get people thinking about food, farming and the environment
Park Farm at Thorney in Cambridgeshire will once again be opening its farm gates to the public for Open Farm Sunday.
This will be our ninth year and we have seen the event grow from the early days when we only had 12 visitors, through to our greatest success yet, of 7000 visitors over the weekend in 2013. With a wide variety of people attending from town and country.
We are lucky to have a great team of volunteers. All the local farmers are keen to be involved and help out with their time. We also team up with the local Peterborough Farm Machinery Preservation Society so that historic farm machinery can be seen on display and working!
One of the most popular attractions of the day is the farm safari. We have three trailers that go on a continual loop around the farm. On board each trailer is a member of the RSPB and a farmer to talk to the visitors about the different crops we grow, to what a skylark plot is used for. This usually generates lots of questions and gets people thinking about the food they buy in the shops and what farmers are doing to for the environment.
Image: Tractor trailer ride by Michael Sly
We aim to offer a wide range of activities over the weekend and have different zones, PYO Spuds, Farmers Market, Farm Displays, Sheep Show, Kids Zone, Livestock Zone, Sausage making, RSPB & The Thorney Farmland Bird Friendly Zone (covering 4,000 hectares) stands and the Food Hall (always popular).
At the end of the weekend everyone is exhausted, but all the smiling faces from the visitors is more than enough to make it all worthwhile. Our feedback forms contain comments such as “Yet another fantastic day out!” and “Brilliant activities, Grandchildren loved it!” Farmers all over the country will be opening up on the 8th June. It is the perfect way to get information across to our customers about the work we farmers do for feeding the Nation and helping the environment. If we all can work in partnership with the likes of LEAF and the RSPB, we can demonstrate what great custodians of the land we can be.
Park Farm at Thorney in Cambridgeshire is one of over 350 farms that will be opening up for Open Farm Sunday on the 8th June. To find your nearest event visit www.farmsunday.org