Our Open Farm Sunday afternoon was fairly low key as I intended it should be. We don't have farm livestock (apart from livery horses) and I judged that arable crops and conservation would have limited appeal to large crowds. Add to that the fact that we have been shorthanded recently with little time to prepare and a small crowd seemed more appropriate. So I restricted advertising to places I believed would attract the right demographic mix and numbers.
Surprisingly I got it spot on. Just under 50 people turned up with ages ranging from 3 to over 80. One lady had been a land army girl on the farm in 1948 and was there for nostalgic reasons. Local parents brought their children who were walking on farmland for the first time in their lives. An ex ADAS man (who had been made redundant several years ago but wanted to update himself on the changes since), some middle aged ladies, a couple of lorry drivers, a few teachers and so on, all of them consumers, made up the rest of the party.
We had a gentle stoll round some of the features I thought would be interesting and at which I had erected the special sign boards sent me by LEAF. I talked a bit and invited questions. Most were concerned with global warming, subsidies, and food safety. I hope I was able to answer them to the satisfaction of my guests. In any event they all seemed to go away happy and pleased with the experience taking handfuls of leaflets supplied by the Open Farm Sunday sponsors with them.
Altogether I felt it was a worthwhile exercise for us and from what I have heard I suspect most other Open Farms did their jobs better and for more visitors than we did. But as I considered all this last evening as we cleared up I was proud that the members of LEAF, an organisation with which I have been associated since its birth in 1991, had originated, inspired and co-ordinated such a positive event.
I had dreams that it would achieve such things from the start. It has taken longer than I would have liked. But the publicity and backing that Open Farm Sunday attracted was impressive and I congratulate those now running the charity on a remarkable nationwide success that will have given our industry and the cause of local food for local people a real and lasting boost. Well done.
Comments (1)
Thank you for your support David - and for hosting an event.
All of us at LEAF are really grateful for the fantastic team effort from everyone in the industry. The real heros of the day - the 400 or so farmers and their families did such an excellent job.
We would just like to add our congratulations to all the farmers involved in Open Farm Sunday. With so many farms opening up around the country and thousands in the industry involved on the day, it has been a great success.
We estimate some 50000 people strode out in to the countryside to celebrate British farming. And what a day! With trailer rides, farm walks, sheep shearing and milking all the visitors shared a little piece of rural life providing a great opportunity to make new connections between food, farming and nature.
We look forward to it all again next year - Sunday 8th June 2008!'
Posted by Caroline Drummond | June 11, 2007 2:52 PM
Posted on June 11, 2007 14:52