Agriculture This Week: Open Farm Days helps re-establish connections

With somewhat of an understated lead up this year, Open Farm Days were held recently.

The Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan-led initiatives is one of those totally brilliant, yet simple ideas, which helps build what is sadly a broadening gap between farm operators, and their ultimate consumers – those who consume what farmers grow.

When I was a youngster – admittedly a half century-plus ago, but still a relatively brief span in terms of history – few would have been those anywhere in Saskatchewan without a rather direct tie to farming.

A grandparent, an uncle, someone in the family you would at least visit on occasion would have been a farmer.

And on those visits you would have seen a rather broad cross section of farming. Through the 1960s and into the ‘70s farming was still largely mixed in nature.

On the visit you would perhaps help gather eggs, see a cow milked, feed some pigs, or take a truck ride out to the combine in the fall. A Sunday dinner at the farm and you were still connected rather directly to where food comes from.

Jump forward over the five decades and things have changed dramatically.

Farms have grown exponentially, and as big farmers have bought out smaller neighbours the number of farms have obviously declined, and so too the number of families with that tie which got them to a farm at least on occasion.

And even among the few with farm connections those connections are more singular in nature.