Agri Aware welcomed over 3,000 people to its Open Farm event on the Byrne family farm in Co. Kildare across two days.
This year’s Open Farm event saw the addition of a schools day on Friday, June 14th, which saw 450 primary school students get a tour of the farm, while on the Saturday, June 15th, just over 2,550 people attended the general public day.
Open Farm is Agri Aware’s flagship event in enhancing agricultural literacy and it was a resounding success.
Stephen and Aine Byrnes dairy farm just outside Monasterevin was the location for this year’s event which saw people far and wide travel to learn about Irish agriculture and where they food they consume comes from.
Stephen and Aine said the schools day was of utmost importance to them, as no textbook will educate the next generation better on where their food comes from than seeing it in person and hearing about its production from industry experts.
The general public day on Saturday saw just over 2,550 attend who were treated to a self-guided tour of the farm, cookery, milking and shearing demos, panel discussions, a machinery display, games for the kids, tasty food and complementary Mooju milk drinks supplied by Tirlán who the Byrnes supply their milk to.
Most importantly, attendees got a 360° of Irish agriculture on the day, seeing first hand where the food they consume originates from and how it is being produced in a sustainable manner on a farm that prides itself on the environmental measures it is implementing.
Speaking at the conclusion of the event, Agri Aware Chairman Shay Galvin said: “Agri Aware’s mission of enhancing agricultural literacy is not possible without the support of people like Stephen and his family who opened up their farm to host this event who we are very thankful to.
“Consumers are further becoming removed from farms and knowing about where the food they consume comes from. Events like Open Farm help to bridge that gap between the producer and consumer – which is critical.
“The addition of the schools day on the Friday to this year’s event was extremely important to the Byrnes as they see first hand how urban sprawling has further removed consumers from farming and knowing how their food is produced.
“The schools day allowed primary schools children to get an understanding of just that and show them that it is on their doorstep – which can be forgotten about sometimes by many young and old.
“I’d like to further thank our sponsors The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, The National Dairy Council, the Irish Farmers’ Association and Tirlan for their continued support of this event and all our patrons who contributed to the success of the event.
“Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who attended Open Farm, without you it wouldn’t have been the success it was. We are already looking forward to and thinking ahead to next year’s event.”