Open Farm Sunday – Farming Shines on Record Breaking Day
9th June 2015 Open Farm Sunday – farming shines on record breaking day This Sunday (7th June) was the tenth anniversary for Open Farm Sunday, and thanks to the support from across the whole farming and food industry, the campaign enjoyed a record breaking day with a quarter of a million visitors! National organisers LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) paid tribute to the hundreds of farmers who opened their gates and thanked all those who helped and supported them. With the majority of farms basking in sunshine, more visitors than ever before visited a farm for Open Farm Sunday. Nearly 400 farms opened this year and while final figures are still being obtained, LEAF estimates that visitor numbers for 2015 will be over 250,000 - exceeding the record breaking attendance of 2014 by more than 15%. Annabel Shackleton, Open Farm Sunday manager at LEAF said: “Our tenth Open Farm Sunday has been a resounding success and a fantastic celebration of British farming and food. From the feedback received so far, it’s clear that Open Farm Sunday enabled hundreds of thousands of people to have an amazing day in the countryside, learning about farming and the story behind their food. We’re particularly delighted so many families took the time to visit farms up and down the country, many for the first time. On behalf of LEAF I’d like to offer a huge thank you to everyone involved. Open Farm Sunday 2016 will be on the 5th June, so please put the date in your diary so we can continue to build on the success we have achieved together.” Sponsors of Open Farm Sunday 2015 include: Aldi, Arla, Asda, BASF plc, Defra, Farmcare, Farmers Weekly, Frontier Agriculture, John Deere, Kellogg’s, LEAF Marque, Marks and Spencer, National Farmers Union, Syngenta, The Tesco Eat Happy Project, Waitrose plus the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (from its BPEX, DairyCo, EBLEX, HGCA and HDC divisions).
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