Open Farm Sunday 2021: Farmers prepare for smaller-scale events

Open Farm Sun­day will be going ahead as planned with small­er scale, social­ly dis­tanced farm walks and talks
Open Farm Sun­day will be going ahead as planned with small­er scale, social­ly dis­tanced farm walks and talks

Farmers are preparing for this week's Open Farm Sunday which is going ahead as planned despite the full lifting of lockdown restrictions being delayed.

The farming industry’s annual open day will return on Sunday 27 June to celebrate its 15th event since the initiative was launched in 2006.

This year, the trend will be for smaller events, according to LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), which runs the initiative.

The body says farmers taking part will still have full autonomy to decide on the type of event they would like to offer, for how long and for how many people.

In Eng­land, cur­rent restric­tions do not impact out­door agri­ events where space allows social dis­tanc­ing to be adhered to and atten­dance is lim­it­ed to 4,000 peo­ple.

In Scot­land there is a tiered sys­tem with events capped at 250 peo­ple, and in Wales, guid­ed farm tours can take place so long as social dis­tanc­ing is maintained.

A spokesperson for LEAF said that host farm­ers would be tak­ing all rea­son­able mea­sures to min­imise the risk of expo­sure to and spread of coro­n­avirus.

"Farms open­ing for LOFS will be offer­ing vis­i­tors a vari­ety of on-farm expe­ri­ences from guid­ed walks and farm tours to machin­ery dis­plays and pic­nics on the farm.

"We will con­tin­ue to mon­i­tor Covid infor­ma­tion from gov­ern­ments and sup­port both our host farm­ers and vis­i­tors so that every­one has a safe and enjoy­able day."

The spokesperson added: "Ulti­mate­ly, we are so pleased that we can bring the pub­lic out onto farms this sum­mer, to find out more about the agri­cul­tur­al indus­try first-hand, enjoy the health and well­be­ing ben­e­fits of being out­doors and to give vis­i­tors a mem­o­rable experience.

"We hope that every­one will take the oppor­tu­ni­ty on 27 June, to cel­e­brate all that British farm­ers deliv­er and enjoy a feast of British food and drink."

LEAF Open Farm Sunday 2021 will take place on Sunday 27 June.