Take an Ag-Cation during Saskatchewan’s first Open Farm Days in August

There is a new opportunity this summer for anyone wanting to learn more about Saskatchewan’s agriculture and culinary scene.

The first Open Farm Days on Aug. 10 and 11 will bring people together through educational and agricultural-based initiatives designed to create chances to learn about where food comes from.

Saskatchewan Open Farm Days coordinator Ashley Stone said there was a lot of research done through Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan, trying to understand what was being done in other provinces. She said there were also conversations with the Ministry of Agriculture and Tourism Saskatchewan.

“There’s great alignment and connecting the story of food to our consumers and even potential visitors coming to the region. Finding a way to connect them through an event like this is a great opportunity to pull all those resources together,” Stone told farmnewsNOW. “It’s almost like a trial to see how it goes with a two-day event and then build it from there. There’s been a lot of growth in other regions, specifically in Alberta, in their culinary and agriculture scene because of this event. We’re excited to see where it goes and how it builds.”

It all starts with finding host farmers and businesses. Registrations are now open and Stone said it’s a chance to share the story of agriculture and how it contributes to Saskatchewan.

“We’re going to be bringing people from across Saskatchewan together through those educational and experiential, ag-based initiatives that these farms are hosting and to learn where their food comes, how it’s exported, how it grows and the diversity in the sector. It’s going to be that storytelling piece and hands-on experiential learning that we’re really excited to share with consumers.”

The registration deadline is May 31 and Stone said perspective hosts don’t have a full plan in place yet.

“We don’t expect that to be fully mapped out. But we would like them to get registered by the end of May just so we can help them work through all the elements of the story that they’d like to share. If they want to host a dinner at their location, just getting them set up with SHA (Saskatchewan Health Authority) and all those elements. So right now, they just need to go online and sign up,” she said.

There will be training and support available to Open Farm hosts to get their outline finalized for the event and getting their farm profiles on the website, according to Stone.

“We will have in-person sessions for host farms and answer any questions with myself and the rest of the team. Those are going to be on June 3 in Lumsden and June 6 in Martensville. The rest of our training details will be on our website shortly so make sure to stay tuned on our site for that,” she added.

The consumer campaign will launch on June 15 on the Open Farm Days website. There will be a portal to see the on-farm experiences that are available. Stone said the consumer can plan anything from an afternoon experience to a more extensive two-day road trip.

“Ag-cation is what we’re calling it. You could come from Regina and take in a day of experiences in the Moose Jaw region and then head out to Swift Current and do another day and stay overnight. It’s a nice long weekend exploring our prairie province.” Stone said. ” Or you can do a one-day experience whether it’s something in town exploring some of our breweries with great opportunities there or going out for a little day trip around urban centres.”