David's Digest

Our Farm Open Day pack arrived today. You must have seen it advertised. Farm Sunday, June 10th. The idea is to attract local people to have a look round farms in their area and for farmers, their families and workers to give them a guided tour. And the pack I referred to contains blank advertising posters that can be filled in with the farm address and opening times, signs for directing traffic, a Tshirt with an Open Farm logo, and bigger signs for the farmyard indicating the wide support the initiative enjoys.
One of those supporters is, of course, Farmers Weekly. Others include Natural England, the HGCA, the NFU, Country Living magazine, MacDonalds, and LEAF, whose idea it was in the first place. I say that with some pride because although Open Sunday is an initiative that happened after I left the LEAF chair it is totally consistent with everything I tried to do while there and I congratulate the current management on it.
But if the farming industry is to gain maximum benefit in terms of its public relations it must be supported by farmers themselves. Its really not a huge commitment. The sponsors will supply you with almost all you need - apart from a few hours of your time. Surely its worth that to earn a good name in the parish and help push concept of local food for local people.
Contact LEAF for further details: www.leafuk.org or 024 7641 3911. Please!