City Families Go Beyond The Supermarket To Visit Farms This Weekend

City Families Go Beyond the Supermarket to Visit Farms This Weekend

Media release

Friday, 28 May 2010

Hundreds of city families across Australia will have a new perspective on the food they buy at the supermarket after participating in the fifth national FarmDay this weekend.

More than 650 city and farming families will take part in FarmDay, during which city families will travel to a farm for the day or the weekend to see the source of their food and fibre.

FarmDay, which is a national, not-for-profit event, was instigated by Victorian farmer Deb Bain, of Skipton, to help bridge the gap between city and country Australians.

"The divide between city and country people has meant that consumers have become oblivious to the process that goes into producing our food and fibre. They forget that there was a time before supermarkets and widely abundant, affordable food," Mrs Bain said.

"We know from previous years that FarmDay makes a significant impact on city people's understanding and appreciation of farming. Continually, we hear that after taking part in FarmDay, city families are more selective in buying food at the supermarket and making sure it is grown in Australia."

Leading up to FarmDay, research revealed that an overwhelming majority of city Australians want to know more about where their food comes from.

The survey undertaken by Millward Brown found that 96 per cent of city residents were interested in knowing more about where their food comes from and 73 per cent were keen to visit a farm to find out more.

As part of FarmDay, city families will witness the diversity of agriculture, visiting farms with traditional beef, cattle, lamb, wool, grains, cotton and rice enterprises as well as more specialized enterprises for yabbies, deer, tea tree oil, mohair, compost, aquaponics, rare breed pigs, blueberries, olives, mangos, beans, apples, potatoes, zucchini and heritage vegies.

City children taking part are mostly of school age so are able to get involved with farm activities, such as learning how to milk cows, rounding up cattle and sheep, planting trees and feeding animals.

For further information or high res images, please contact Jenny Littlewood on 03 9696 5899 or 0403 359 864 or Julia Balderstone, Currie Communications, or 0403 852 796.

FarmDay is proudly supported by Australia's cattle producers.


SOURCE: Meat & Livestock Australia