Sunflower farm shuts as selfie lovers trample crop

A family run sunflower farm in Canada has been forced to shut down after it became overwhelmed by visitors trampling its plants in search of the perfect selfie.

Bogle Seeds in Hamilton, Ontario, which boasts rows of 1.4 million blooms, attracted 7000 visitors after news of its opening spread on social media last month.

However, police have ordered the business to close after queuing motorists abandoned their vehicles on the hard shoulder and dodged traffic to walk to the 30ha site.

A family member likened the scene to a “zombie apocalypse”, as people took drastic measures to get to the farm when its 300-space carpark became full.

“The police received many calls to 911 about it, so they came out and said that it’s too dangerous on the roads and that we have to shut down our sunflower viewing,” owners Barry and Marlene Bogle posted on Facebook.

Some visitors in search of the perfect social media snapshot walked deep into the crop of sunflowers, trampling and damaging the plants in the process.

One visitor told local media that she saw “quite a few” sunflowers that were “damaged, broken and lying on the ground”.

Others strolled on to the property, where generations of the family have been farming since 1874, without paying the $8.50 admission fee.

Having previously encouraged visitors to experience the “quiet country setting”, the Bogles say it is unlikely that they will reopen the sunflower-attraction to the public in future.