Farmer’s stories are everywhere. This very paper is full of them, Country Calendar’s ratings are unbeatable and the NZ Farming Facebook page is one of the country’s largest.
But it’s not enough.
To genuinely connect with people, to make the things that are important to you important to them, farmer storytelling needs to go offline. Videos, news articles and social media play an important role, but they can’t change behaviour alone.
To make farming relevant for urban Kiwis, we need to be real. We need to create space for people to ‘feel’ farming – the buzz of a woolshed, the touch of an animal or the sight of biodiversity flourishing alongside food and fibre.
If we want farming to mean something to urban people, these experiences are crucial. That’s why we built Open Farms – a nationwide open farm day to get urban Kiwis back out on-farm, in-person.
The response from urban Kiwis continues to amaze us. At time of writing, Open Farms 2021 has been open to visitors for three days – 1100 have already signed up to reconnect with a local farmer.
Like any good story though, it’s not all smooth sailing.
The farmers who choose to host an open day, do so knowing that there are health and safety considerations, and that some people might question the way they farm. Their decision to host despite these barriers, to be vulnerable, is what makes this project real and why, in the long-run, it’s going to work.
But you’ve read enough from me. I want to finish this article by thanking a few of these farmers, and sharing their stories.
Untamed Earth Farm
The Berger family run sheep and beef in Kaipara, and consider it a privilege to share the ups and downs of farming with others. For their open day, they’ll take visitors on a tour covering the full farming experience – showing others where animals, nature and people meet.
