Open Farm Sunday postponed over coronavirus concerns

This year’s Open Farm Sunday event has been postponed until September because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers Linking Environment And Farming (Leaf) said it regretted having to move the nationwide event from June to September, but described this as an “inevitable, safe and sensible decision”.

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“This decision has not been taken lightly and the organisation is fully aware of the implications and disappointment this may cause to host farmers and visitors. However, given the challenges that the whole country faces in the coming weeks and months, Leaf has been left with little choice but to postpone the event to later in the year,” it said in a statement.

Caroline Drummond, Leaf chief executive, said: “We have spoken to a number of our host farmers to understand the impact of postponing to later in the year. We are pleased with the positive response from our ever enthusiastic farmers, many of whom have indicated they would like to still host Leaf Open Farm Sunday 2020. Consequently, we have rearranged the date to 20 September 2020.

“We look forward to welcoming the public out onto farm at a different and interesting time of year to take pleasure from getting outside and celebrating farming, food and nature. We will continue to support farmers hosting an Open Farm Sunday event in September and to encourage the public to visit a farm and discover the world of farming.”

Nationwide event

More than 230,000 people are estimated to have ventured on to 361 farms last June for the one-day nationwide event, which aims to bring farmers and consumers closer together by showing the public what UK agriculture is really about.

Leaf thanked everyone involved for their patience and understanding at this time and it encouraged anyone with questions about this postponement to visit the FAQ page on the Open Farm Sunday website, or email the team at openfarmsunday@leafuk.org.