Third National Open Farm Day Hits Visitor Record

3,680 urban Kiwis visited 24 farms on Sunday March 12, part of New Zealand’s third national open farm day initiative Open Farms.

Farms of all types participated in the nationwide project, from market gardens in Auckland, to dairy farms in the Waikato, regenerative sheep & beef farms near Wellington and organic veges in Christchurch.

Our Land and Water is a major sponsor of the annual event. Results from this year's post-event surveys remained consistent with previous years' events. ‘Science in farming’ remained the top visitor highlight, and the open farm experience positively shifted urban perceptions around the complexity and environmental sustainability of farming, among other attributes. Both visitors and hosts rate the experience highly (4.5/5 and 4.6/5 respectively),

Successive weather events in the project’s target areas around NZ’s major cities impacted host numbers, but a focus on scaling up several events delivered the record turnout.

“This was a tough year for farmer hosts, so we really appreciate them giving urban Kiwis the chance to touch, feel and taste their way back into food & farming,” says Open Farms founder Daniel Eb.

In Auckland, The Singh family at Kingseat Organics hosted 320 people for a day exploring organic vege production, meeting animals and planting native trees. “We had 30-metre-long lines of people through the vege beds at times and everyone was so engaged to learn about where their food comes – it was a great day,” says farmer Malkiat Singh. 

One of the largest 2023 events took place at Mangaroa Farms, a sheep & beef farm and market garden aiming to become a local food hub for their Upper Hutt community – farmer Jules Matthews referred to their open day simply as “awesome”.

Open Farms is sponsored by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge, alongside Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures fund. 

For more information and to sign up for next year, prospective farmer hosts and visitors can visit www.openfarms.co.nz.

Open Farms is a platform to reconnect Kiwis with the people and places that grow our food. It’s a grassroots initiative encouraging farmers from all sectors to host Open Farm day experiences as part of a national open farm day. The platform provides farmers with event guidance, visitor marketing and registration support and connects visitors to Open Farm days via a booking system at www.openfarms.co.nz. The platform is independently run by Open Farms Ltd, with support from sponsors Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures fund.