Bank of Ireland UK has confirmed a major new sponsorship deal for the popular Open Farm Weekend initiative which has secured the project’s future into 2016. The award-winning programme will be officially renamed as the “Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend” for this year’s event, when farms across the country will open their gates to the public on the 14th and 15th June.
The award-winning initiative, now entering its third successful year, will see dozens of real, working farms serve the public a slice of life on the farm, educating them on how their food is produced and showcasing the diversity and value of the agricultural sector. Bank of Ireland UK has been involved in the initiative as a co-funder since year one but has now increased their support to become the event’s Principal Sponsor.
William Thompson, Agri-Manager for Bank of Ireland UK said, “Having been involved in Open Farm Weekend from the very beginning, it has been encouraging to see how the initiative has grown and developed. Last year was a fantastic success with almost 10,000 people heading out to learn all about food and farming and we’re delighted to offer our support to help make this already successful programme even bigger and better.”
Last year saw 19 farms open their gates to the public and this year Barclay Bell, Chair of the Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend Steering Group, is aiming to increase the number of farms again.
Mr Bell said, “It’s heartening to see the majority of our 2013 farms returning for this year’s event but we want to grow our list of participating farms even further. We’re especially focussed on recruiting farmers in the west of the province to help tell the public about the field to fork journey of our food. The increased support from Bank of Ireland will help us to grow our participating farmer numbers in 2014 and allows us to plan for the future of the event for the next three years.”
Participating farmers can look forward to information and advice about how to run their event as well as site visits for health and safety. The organisers will also advise on activity plans and provide support and advice on promotion of each farmer’s individual event. The initiative will once again be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including multi-platform advertising and media relations.
William Thompson commented, “Bank of Ireland UK are strong supporters of the local agri-sector and we see our sponsorship of Open Farm Weekend as a key part of that strategy. Our support for the event will not only help us to reach out to a large local audience but will also empower farmers across Northern Ireland to tell their own story to the public and hopefully create greater understanding of the sector.”
A similar project, Open Farm Sunday has been running in Great Britain for eight years and has proved an enormous success, with tens of thousands of people visiting their local farms last summer.
The Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend is a project of the Ulster Farmers’ Union and is also sponsored by NFU Mutual and supported by the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster. Any farms wishing to take part in this year’s event can visit www.openfarmweekend.com or call Lindsay Curran on 028 90249449 for more information.
