9th Annual Open Farm Days weekend set for mid-August
On August 14th and 15th, farms all across Alberta will open their doors to the public. For many of these farms, this will be the first or only time they will be open to visitors.
“People can get an idea about how a farm is run, how their food is produced and have some fun on a farm,” said Nicola Doherty, Marketing Coordinator for Open Farm Days. “A lot of people have this generational shift between agriculture, so it’s a chance for them to get back on the farm and for people that have no farm experience, it’s a chance to see the animals, learn about food production and then taste delicious farm fresh food.”
Registration for the event opened at the beginning of the year, and landowners from various parts of agriculture registered to participate.
“Oftentimes, what we’ve found is farms that have participated in the past, love it and reach out to their neighbors or reach out to their municipal districts and say open farm days were great for their business, it was great for the farm.” said Doherty.
One of the primary benefits of Open Farm Days is the opportunity for farmers to showcase their work and explain their products and industry, said Doherty.
“Another benefit is the farm to gate sales. If they’ve got eggs, or if they’ve gotten meat or honey, then the opportunity to sell your product,” said Doherty. “Although open farm days are free to attend and there’s no cost at the gate, farmers can run hayrides or certain events like that, that they can charge money for. There’s revenue generation from those types of events. If they’re interested in agritourism, it’s a way of getting their foot in the door and getting a taste of what it would be like to host tours on the farm, with the support of the open farm days team. Lastly is for the culinary aspect, having the opportunity for people to taste the product and taste what farm fresh tastes like. People are having picnics and kind of getting that step into the culinary and the brewery or distillery parts of the farm.”
Since its inception in 2013, Open Farm Days has seen steadily growing participation and relevance.
While there was a lower level of engagement in 2020 due to the pandemic, the event remains popular with farms all across Alberta.
“This year, we have close to 115 Farms. While we’re still on the recovery part from the pandemic but it has been incredible the feedback that we get from farms is that you know, it is a worthwhile event,” said Doherty. “Last year, we had 100% response from people that said they would participate again.”
For those looking to visit various farms over the course of the weekend, Doherty recommends a visit to the Open Farm Day website, which features a trip planner to better make use of the limited time window.
“Plan your trip, look at the types of farms that are participating. And you know, whether that’s from greenhouses to ranches, there’s so many different farms, and so many different things that you can learn about. Alberta isn’t a small province, sometimes you will be driving 45 minutes from one farm to the other. So the trip planning part is important,” said Doherty.