People from up and down the country came together to explore and discover more about dairy farming and the source of some of their favourite dairy products.
Arla worked closely with Open Farm Sunday organiser LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) to take its place amongst a wide range of names from across the food and farming sector, and to support the initiative by demonstrating the key role its farmer owners can play in educating the British public about day-to-day life on farms and dairy products.
Arla’s participation is driven by a strong public need for accurate information about dairy farming to inform people about the provenance of foods they eat and dispel misconceptions.
The significance of dairy education is underlined by a new survey from the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF)[1], which finds that nearly a third (29%) of five to seven-year-olds think that cheese comes from a plant; and a quarter of eight to eleven-year-olds think the same.
Tomas Pietrangeli, Managing Director, Arla Foods UK, commented:
“We are proud to continue to be a part of Open Farm Sunday – an important initiative to demonstrate the hard work of British farmers. Arla farmer owners worked tirelessly to ensure visitors young and old gain a better understanding of what agricultural life entails, how we work to protect the countryside and where their favourite products start out.
“This year’s event was another tremendous success and we are excited to have played our essential part in illustrating the fantastic work of the farming industry.”
Open Farm Sunday 2017 saw hundreds of farms across the country open their gates to welcome the public. Now in its 12th year, the event has brought 1.8 million onto 1,500 local farms across the country.