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Open Farm Sunday - Another fantastic result for UK farmers

13 June 2017


What a great weekend... people came out in their droves to support Open Farm Sunday, now an annual national event, when the general public are welcomed on to farms by our UK farmers.

British Sugar volunteers supported farmers at ten events over the weekend. From as far north as Our Cow Molly at Cliffe House Farm, just outside Sheffield, to Holkham Hall Estates in Norfolk we were out and about talking about sugar beet, how our homegrown sugar is made and our sustainable range of co-products.

I went along to see Michael Sly and his family at their Park Farm event in Thorney and what an event it was. It was great to see so many local farmers pooling their resources to stage such a large scale affair which attracted over 10,000 visitors over two days.

There was definitely something for everyone whether it was shopping in the farmers market, learning more about animals, including ferrets... or taking part in the farm safari. Everywhere you looked people of all ages were having lots of fun. Open Farm Sunday is very much about explaining how local food is produced in an informative and fun way. I've no doubt that lots of people will have left these events having learnt something new (me included).

I haven't seen the total figures yet but I wouldn't be surprised if, in total, we haven't surpassed last year's total number of people taking part. In fact the date is already in the diary for next year's events. So, it's clear for all to see these events are a great success.

However, we haven't quite finished as we will be supporting one last Open Farm Sunday event at the Welbeck Estates, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire on Sunday 18th June. If you're in the area and have some spare time please come along and visit - it really is a great experience for all the family.

Let us know if you visited one of our stands by tweeting us @BritishSugar using #ofs17.

For more information, please visit our friends and partners at www.farmsunday.org/visit-a-farm.

Colm McKay
Agriculture Director