• 362 farms hosted events - one overseas in Kenya

• 120,000 visitors – despite the driving wind and rain acrossmuch of Britain

• 60% of farms had 100+ visitors

• 17% of farms had 500+ visitors

• 4 farms had a staggering 3000+ visitors

• 25% increase in visitor numbers where the sun shonein the East of England and Scotland

• 50:50 split urban/rural visitors

• 97% of visitors rated their day as ‘good’, ‘amazing’ or ‘brilliant’

Key results for12 June 2011

• 16 Host farmer workshops were held

• 10 Open Farm Sunday Regional Co-ordinators

About the farmers

• 30% of host farmers were first timers

• Increase in the number of farms

opening whose main industry

focus is dairy, horticulture, pig

and poultry

• The following gives the percentage of

farms showcasing each industry area

at their Open Farm Sunday event:44% Arable 55% Beef19% Dairy 58% Sheep42% Pigs 44% Poultry27% Vegetables 20% Fruit19% Horticulture 60% Environmental

Stewardship

• 75% of farmers said their business had benefitted Key benefits: Improved community relations

Better community linksRaised local profileIncreased salesBetter image for the industry

Host farmers’ main industry activity

Number of events perregion / nation:

South West 86

South East 75

East of England 58

East Midlands 28

West Midlands 26

Yorkshire and Humber 28

North East 5

North West 21

Scotland 18

Wales 16

International 1

Why farmers host events…“Improved local relations and increased local network contacts”

“Just raising awareness of farming generally.We didn’t do it to benefit our business specifically.”

“Local people went away with a betterunderstanding about how food is produced.”

“We didn’t benefit financially but in good will”

“Increased awareness of our produce and the values that we attribute to our livestock.”

“It poured with rain all day long but we had a fabulous day - the rain didn't dampen it at all!  Huge thanks to the team there for making the day so enjoyable.”

“Useful, understandable advice dotted throughout the farm. Knowledgeable people to talk to on hand. A very enjoyable couple of hours.”

"The demonstrations, displays, equipment and explanations were great. A wonderful opportunity to learn more about farming, the environment and the food chain from farm to fork. Our thanks to everyone gave their time to make the day such a success."

What the visitors say…

About the visitors

• 63% of visitors had never been to an Open Farm Sunday event before (over 75,000)

• 8% fewer visitors from towns and cities

compared with 2010

• 30% of visitors reported that they

visited the countryside either ‘never’,

‘hardly ever’ or only ‘now and again’

showing that Open Farm Sunday

reaches out to thousands of people not

used to venturing onto farms

• After visiting an event there was a clear shift in visitors’ understanding of farming and food production from ‘poor’ or ‘good’ to ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’

News video

Hosted by BBC’s Countryfile

presenter, Adam Henson,

reached 40 million people;

it was posted on the Mail Online

Media campaign

There was a real buzz around this year’s

Open Farm Sunday campaign:

• 645 pieces of media coverage

• 217 million OTSH - opportunities to see and hear;

versus 127m OTSH in 2010

• 71% increase in OTSH compared with 2010

• Four in ten pieces mentioned the website

• Written into the ‘Archers’ storyline

2011 theme:

‘Discover life on Britain’s farms’

Online

• 100,000+ visits to the websitein the six week run up to12 June 2011

• Five times the number of hits compared with 2010

• www.farmsunday.org formed the communications hub for the campaign for both farmers and visitors

• New host farmer registration section and improved search engine facility enabled visitors to search for a suitable farm to visit

• Three new videos were added to the online workshop for host farmers

Social Media

• 40% increase in Twitter fans

• 82 Twitter lists featured OFS with#ofs trending in parts of the countryon Open Farm Sunday itself

• over 2800 followers

Comprehensive resources • 85% of host farmers made use of the free

resources

• The packs of supporting materials included publicity materials (posters, flyers, postcards, gate banner, direction signs), handbook, polo shirt, stickers, activity booklets and lots more.

• New for 2011 was the ‘Discover More’ brochure featuring a number of British farmers giving visitors some key facts and figures about UK farming.

Host farmer feedback…

“What you and all the other supporting organisations sent us was first class, thank you!”

“We are very grateful to all the sponsors for their support. It adds meaning and professionalism to the event to be supported by big names.”

“Sponsors input VERY good and worthwhile“.

“The sponsors are to be applauded - for us their resources are invaluable i.e. posters etc which are used for static displays about the crops grown on the farm.”

“Used the resources provided by most of the sponsors either for display purposes or as handouts.”

“We requested several bits of information and leaflets from sponsors which was great.”

“Materials, support and advice from LEAF were excellent.”

Principal sponsors:Asda, Defra, Farmers Weekly, Frontier Agriculture,John Deere, LEAF Marque, Natural England, NFU, Syngenta, Waitrose, Warburtons

Additional sponsors:DairyCo, EBLEX, Farm Stay UK, GrowHow, HGCA,Marks & Spencer, Wiggly Wigglers

2011 sponsors

Government support from

Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State

James Paice, Food and Farming Minister

Richard Lochhead, Scottish Government Rural Affairs Secretary

… plus a number of politicians visited local farms on

Open Farm SundayCaroline Spelman visiting Dunnington Court Farm

on Open Farm Sunday

The new sponsors’ logos were developed and used by sponsors to acknowledge their support for Open Farm Sunday 2011.

Open Farm Sunday is an established success story for the whole food and farming industry.

It is a great opportunity to support British farmers to help them promote thevital work they do in producing the food we eat whilst caring for the countryside.

We invite you to be a part of this successful campaign andlook forward to working with you in 2012 and beyond…

Confirmed 2012 Principal Sponsors to date:

For further information contact: Annabel Shackleton, Open Farm Sunday / Events Manager LEAF

Tel: 024 7641 3911 Mob: 079 1246 3151 Email: annabel.shackleton@leafuk.org

OFS 2 – Key successes in 2011 / Registered charity number: 1045781