Today is the last day for local farmers to sign up as a host farm for Alberta Open Farm Days.

Open Farm Days is a two-day event in August that gives consumers an opportunity to learn where their food comes from and learn about the agriculture industry.  

CEO of the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies, Tim Carson explained that the host farms have a chance to be the voice of the agriculture industry while speaking directly to the consumer.  

“It's really important that agriculture producers are able to tell the story themselves directly to the consumer, we are seeing in today's trend that  people are really very interested in where their food comes from,” Carson said. “This is a tremendous opportunity to inform the consumer and directly connect the consumer to the producer. Here in our society today, we are seeing that individuals are three and sometimes four generations away from the farm.”  

Host farms are asked to offer something unique and interesting that is free and available for families during the event.   

“The experience is really up to you, we would very much like to keep in the agriculture theme and the agriculture value chain, but it's important to recognize that our craft distilleries, craft breweries, and craft wineries are all part of this as well,” Carson said.   

Each year, Open Farm Days highlights the diversity of agriculture in Alberta, with a changing theme. This year’s theme is the Year of the Alpaca.   

“Alpacas are one of the growing pieces of the fiber industry, and nearly 40 per cent of all of the alpacas in Canada are in Alberta,” Carson said. “It’s a growing industry and is definitely part of the fabric of agriculture here in Alberta and it gives us a great opportunity to showcase another piece of the diverse industry.”  

Over the years, Carson has heard a lot of positive feedback from host farms about the experience.   

“We have heard tremendous feedback from our host farms on the curiosity and how interested the consumer has been and how open they were to the information that was being provided,” Carson said. “The feedback has been very positive from our host farms.”  

Host farm registration deadline is today (April 30).