The Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) is continuing its support of the local agri-food industry by renewing its sponsorship for this year’s Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend.
Taking place on Friday 16 June for schools, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June for the public, Open Farm Weekend has had a successful partnership with the LMC for many years through its popular cookery demonstrations, as well as the work it does in highlighting the Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb farms that participate in the Weekend.
Ian Stevenson, chief executive of the Livestock and Meat Commission said, “Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend brings the consumer one step closer to the food chain and gives them the chance to meet the farmer that produces their food. It also lets them see first-hand the very positive contribution that farming makes to improving the environment, society and economy of Northern Ireland. A large part of what LMC does is to educate consumers about the merits of purchasing and consuming local produce, so events such as Open Farm Weekend highlight this farm to fork story very well.
“Personally, I take a real sense of community from Open Farm Weekend and it’s great to see people from a rural and urban background coming together to enjoy the wide range of enterprises on the participating farms. We are delighted to sponsor Open Farm Weekend again this year as it gives us the chance to continue to highlight local beef and sheep meat as a sustainable world class product.”
William Irvine, deputy president of Ulster Farmers’ Union and Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend chairman added: “Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend was established to showcase our farming industry and the wonderful work our farmers do. Its focus is to help the public, particularly those from a non-farming background to better understand how our food is produced and to raise awareness of how supply chains work, through our local food industry. We are delighted to welcome a range of new farms this year and give consumers an even broader snap shot of what happens behind the scenes on working farms.
“LMC has supported the initiative for many years and as well as the financial support this year, the organisation has very kindly provided Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb cookery demonstrations on selected farms and we are looking forward to enjoying this again in June.”
