By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Registration open for Alberta Open Farm Days hosts

Dec 14, 2022 | 2:02 PM

Registration is now open for any operations that want to be host farms for the 2023 edition of Alberta Open Farm Days.

The annual event where people can go to host farms and see how they operate and, maybe, sample some goodies goes Aug. 19 and 20.

Open Farm Days CEO Tim Carson says there has already been what he calls ‘tremendous interest.’

“One of the great parts about being involved or registering now is the access to all of the education and training programs that we have available that run monthly right up until the end of June.”

Carson says potential hosts can learn things like marketing and risk management in this training.

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He adds there are many benefits that come from being a host.

“The provincial-wide marketing of Open Farm Days is something no individual or organization would be able to take on. We do a full province-wide program as well as work in regional areas, specifically to ensure that there is traffic for those hosts.”

Carson says there were 115 host farms this year, still below pre-pandemic levels where the number was around 150.

“That said, 40 per cent of our hosts this year were brand new to the program, and had never been part of Open Farm Days before.”

“Really, it’s a testament to how this is truly an incubator opportunity for that small business, that agribusiness, that producer who would really like to connect to the consumer (at) a way to get involved at a very low cost.”

Anyone interested can check here.