First-hand Interactions Among Farmers and Consumers Deepens Understanding of How Food is Produced

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan says providing opportunities for consumers to see first-hand how farmers produce their food fosters a deeper understanding and helps build trust in food production. A report circulated as part of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan's September update looks at the response to Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, held last month, from the perspective of both the hosts and the participants.

Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says 97 percent of participants who responded to a voluntary survey conducted following the event indicated their understanding and positive perception of agriculture increased.

Quote-Clinton Monchuk-Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan:

Saskatchewan Open Farm Days is the second weekend of August and this is the third year that we've done this.The big reason and the push behind this is to kind of open up farmers' doors, gates, if you will, to the general public and allow interaction between those who want to know more about how their food is produced and those farmers and ranchers that want to talk to consumers about what they do.

A lot of our research has gone into the fact that when farmers talk openly to consumers about what they do, it increases the public's trust in agriculture.
As we keep on going through generations and generations that are being removed from primary agriculture, people don't fully understand what farmers and ranchers do in an effort to produce food.

So, giving an opportunity for consumers and mainly urban consumers to come out to farms and ranches and just see what goes on on a typical farm or ranch, it just increases their level of knowledge and understanding of how their food is really being produced outside the cities.

Monchuk suggests when have open transparent conversations with consumers about agriculture their understanding of agriculture increases and this leads to better food literacy in general.Information on Saskatchewan Open Farm Days can be found at skopenfarmdays.ca.