By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

April 30 the deadline to become an Open Farm Days host

Apr 16, 2024 | 12:00 PM

April 30 is the deadline for interested operations to sign up to be host farms for Alberta Open Farm Days.

CEO Tim Carson says 110 places had signed up to be hosts as of last Thursday.

He says worries about drought and wildfires have not kept any interested places from taking part.

“We had to have some alterations over our history where people, for one reason or another, have had to drop out, sort of at the last minute.”

“We did get quite a few that had to drop due to the wildfires last year and there was a year before that there was a certain section of the province that was in drought conditions and their crop was struggling.”

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Carson says there are support systems in place for hosts.

“There’s an entire education system, a whole series of webinars that will allow you the opportunity to learn about everything from ag. tourism to insurance and food safety, marketing, ticketing, even some cluster development information.”

On farm sales increased last year, even thought some operations had to withdraw because of the fires.

Carson says people are interested in where their food comes from.

“The opportunity to buy direct from the producer, I think, is something that is a growing trend here in Alberta, not to mention the fact that our producers are actually producing more along the lines of direct marketing.”

“The combination itself is one of those great opportunities we have through Open Farm Days.”

Carson thinks consumers also believe they are getting better quality food buying directly from the farm

Alberta Open Farm Days will take place on August 17 and 18.

Interested hosts can check here.