It is a busy time for agricultural producers across Alberta, but almost 150 agricultural-based businesses and farms were still willing to host events for last month’s Open Farm Days.
“This is often peak season for many of our farms. It’s a big undertaking to get a farm ready and safe for the public to come in. Quite a bit of work is needed to get done to get it visitor ready and they take that on in a very busy part of their year,” said Cameo Hanlon, marketing co-ordinator for Open Farm Days.
“We certainly appreciate the effort that they give forward. The feedback we’ve had so far this year has been fantastic.”
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This year’s theme was Water, The Lifeblood of Every Farm, and the event featured sites as far south as Lethbridge and as far north as Fairview.
The foot traffic generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in on-farm sales while increasing awareness of how food goes from the farm to the family dinner table.
Open Farm Days provides year-round training for agriculture businesses and farms who want to showcase themselves to ensure they are given as much support as possible.
“They were able to really develop a part of their business that’s probably more consumer facing, the opportunity to gain from all the resources we give them, so it’s actually an incubator for them as businesses. So we do tons of training sessions and informationals and and things like that,” said Hanlon.
“I hope they certainly benefited from it, and feel like they grew stronger in the business they ran. Whether it was buying their products or interacting with their services that they hadn’t in the past, and hopefully able to form some strong future relationships and gain some more awareness to the farm and the great things that they’re doing out there.”
The event features agricultural production and agribusinesses, introducing consumers to vendors who are a little off the beaten path of chain brands.
Hanlon said she discovered her new favourite sourdough bakery while touring farms.
”I think any time you live in a province that’s as vast as Alberta, and has as many urban centers and a great deal of rural, there’s a disconnect between the two. Naturally, this does a great job of bridging that.”
Open Farm Days is in its 14th year in Alberta, growing every year other than during the COVID lockdown.
It originated in the Maritimes before moving west. Numbers are still trickling in for this year, but 2024 saw more than 50,000 Albertans visiting farms and participating in culinary events.
“Things have grown in terms of the amount of farms that register to participate and the amount of visitors. The economic impact, in terms of the money spent, not only on the farms, but on local businesses like gas stations, the things like that is significant,” said Hanlon.
“We are very thrilled, and that is a testament to how long it’s been running. Not a ton of public programs have a lifespan of as long as it’s had. That’s certainly been reinforced by positive uptake, both by farms and participants, which we thank them for.”
Open Farm Days is made possible by government grants and and the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies. Servus Credit Union was a presenter this year.
Hanlon is now encouraging host farms and visitors to provide information on their experience on the organization’s website.
“If you had an experience that was amazing or that could have used some fine tuning, we certainly can utilize that to make sure that next year is even better,” said Hanlon.
