The Jersey Royal Company, the Island’s biggest potato grower and exporter, is participating in Open Farm Sunday on Sunday 9 June, from 10 am to 4 pm, which is taking place in a field behind Jersey Zoo.
The company’s marketing director, William Church, says there will be opportunities to ride on farm machinery, see what the company is doing to improve the Island’s water and soil quality and meet other members of the industry. There will also be tours of the processing factory at nearby Peacock Farm, where the crop is prepared for export to the UK.
He said: ‘Open Farm Sunday is the most important event in British farming and we are the only ones in the Channel Islands to do it. We are inviting other farmers to come along and providing them with the opportunity to get involved.
‘Members of the Jersey Farmers Union, the Action for Cleaner Water Group and the Co-op will be there. It is important that we come together to engage with and educate the public about what we are doing.’
Open Farm Sunday is organised by Linking Environment and Farming (Leaf), a UK-based agricultural accreditation body, with members worldwide.
Its member have to commit to sustainable food production and follow high standards of farming practices.
Membership is growing in the Island as farmers, arable and dairy, have to become Leaf Marque certified by the end of this year, if they wish to receive government subsidies, as part of the Rural Economy Strategy, a five-year initiative introduced in 2017. The Jersey Royal Company has been a member since 2005.
Since the first Open Farm Sunday in 2006, over 1,600 farmers across the British Isles have opened their gates and welcomed more than a million people onto their farms.
Entry to this year’s event is free – as are supplies of freshly dug Jersey Royals – with parking on site. Follow direction signs from main roads leading to the Zoo.