Alberta Open Farm Days fosters agriculture awareness

We all know that agriculture is a big deal here in Southern Alberta. Still, many people don’t know much about the industry and the diversity of agriculture which takes place in and around their community.

Alberta Open Farm Days is a provincial initiative designed to help people experience local agriculture activities. This weekend farms, agricultural organizations, and agri-businesses across the province will be throwing open their doors for Alberta Open Farm Days events. Farming Smarter is one of the local organizations hosting an event this weekend.

Each year Farming Smarter gives hundreds of visitors the chance to experience agriculture up close. The Lethbridge-based research association is busy this week preparing its Open Farm Days event August 17. Communications Coordinator Sean Kjos Farming Smarter has lots of family fun activities planned including a charity barbecue, a scavenger hunt, wagon rides, and bouncy castles.

“It’s your opportunity to come out, learn a little bit more about agriculture, ask some questions of the people involved, and just get a better understanding of how your food gets to the table,” he says. “There’s a pretty big urban rural divide when it come s to agriculture, and not a lot of the proper information gets shared, so this is an opportunity for us to get people out here and learn a little bit more with some hands on opportunities.”

Open Farm Days is a fun day for families, but for Farming Smarter it serves a broader purpose, according to Farming Smarter Assistant Manager Jamie Puchinger. She says the event is an opportunity to showcase the work Farming Smarter does and to help build awareness about agricultural issues.

“Farming Smarter really wants to connect with the folks in the city and the people that have no connection to a farm these days to really understand, you know, the significance of the industry as well as the research that goes into it,” she says.

A good example of the practical education at Open Farm Days is the Sweet Spot, which showcases the journey of sugar from the farm to the retail products like cookies and candy. Farming Smarter has partnered with Economic Development Lethbridge, Atlantic Sugar, Bootsma Bakery and How Sweet Inc. for this project.

“That experience kind of just gives a little bit more information into how we get the delicious treats that we all love,” he explains. “You get to learn the process of growing a sugar beet, processing that into sugar, and then sending it out into the world as cookies and candy.”

The Farming Smarter event is not the only local Alberta Open Farm Days event this weekend. Several other Lethbridge and area farms and businesses are also participating. A full list is available on the Alberta Open Farm Days web site.