Committee announces recipients of Open Farm Days coaching program

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

The Community Futures Wild Rose Farm Selection Committee publicized the nine producers, processors, and ag-tourism operators – including four operations in Wheatland County – to participate in the Open Farm Days Coaching Program in the Wild Rose region – a $50,000 investment by Alberta Culture and Tourism.
Poplar Bluff Organics, Country Lane Farms, Will Farms, and Rocking R Guest Ranch were among nine successful applicants in the region that spans from Chestermere to Hussar and from Trochu to Gleichen.
For the next several months, the recipients will collect on one-on-one coaching from an Alberta management consulting practice, Clearthink Group, with a focus of preparing farm operators to develop their product and develop agricultural tours before the two-day Open Farm Days event in August.
“This coaching program will help them with their day on Open Farm Days but also many of these groups do other events or tours, so whatever they learn they can now implement into their other agri-tourism offerings,” said Wendy Gerbrandt, community economic development (CED) coordinator for Community Futures Wildrose, who added that participation in the southern region now surpassed those of central and northern Alberta.
“We went from having the smallest amount of registrants to now having the most. Because of what we did to push the program, we have more farms overall throughout all of Alberta which is pretty neat.”
Three qualified coaches, with extensive experience working with agri-business, agriculture, and tourism, met with all nine successful applicants last week and toured the operations to provide feedback and advice on improving aspects of the business before Albertans tour the property.
The coaching program will address increasing the quality of quantity of ag-tourism operators, increasing on-farm sales during Open Farm Days weekend, provide experiential tourism opportunities, and promote local foods and create awareness of where food originated.
While Rocking R Guest Ranch hosted a culinary event last year, and Poplar Bluff Organics, as well as Country Lane Farms, participated in Open Farm Days previously, new-kid-on-the-block to the event, Will Farms, applied for the opportunity to receive coaching in order to be prepared on how to serve the public most effectively in two months’ time.
“I thought perhaps they might have some helpful suggestions because I really didn’t quite know how the program runs and what kinds of things we should be doing for the public when they come,” said Elaine Bellamy, owner of the corporate family farm, Will Farms Ltd.
“I hope to help the public learn a little bit more about how a large grain farm actually operates in Alberta and how important the farming economy is. I hope to represent farms in Alberta that grow canola and grains. It’s a lot of work to take part in the Open Farm Days, but we as farmers are constantly encouraged to tell our story. Tell the public all the things you do for the environment and to be sustainable. I guess that’s why I thought I’ll be involved.”
A total of 16 organizations are registered to take part in Open Farm Days in the southern Alberta region, including three culinary events. Furthermore, over 75 host farms and seven culinary events are involved across the province.
Strathmore hosted the event for the first time last August, with the aim to educate its residents on the operations of their establishments and showcase local food components. Because of its success, having attracted over 300 residents to each farm that year – five farms and one farm-to-table culinary event – the government awarded the region the funds to provide the coaching program to nine farms in the region.
Coaches have met with all the selected farms, toured the properties, completed a comprehensive initial visit, and provided a report with recommendations. Although they will return during the event, the coaches will continue to provide advice via phone and video conferencing in the meantime.
Open Farm Days, a collaborative province-wide two-day event, giving residents the opportunity to experience farms and become educated on where their food comes from, will take place on Aug. 20-21. A full list of participants in all three regions can be viewed at www.albertafarmdays.com.