GROWING excitement

Three women in agriculture talk about their love of farming and the importance of Open Farm Sunday, which takes place on 8 June

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'It's important to educate people on farming life'

Lorna Burdge, 42, farms at North Waterhayne Farm in Honiton, Devon, where she lives with her husband Jim, 46, and their three children. We have 350 Friesian and cross-bred dairy cows across our two farms. They're fed a grass-based diet and their milk — which contains high levels of butter fat and protein — is sold to one of the UK's leading cheese manufacturers. We also have a micro-dairy where we pasteurise the milk. It's then sold in a special vending machine - Daisy's Dairy - on one of the farms, and is supported by locals as well as holidaymakers.

I take part in Farmer Time - regular video calls with a primary school covering daily farm life - and go into schools to give assemblies. I talk about being a farmer and issues such as climate, the environment and food miles.

'Having the vending machine and visiting schools has made me even more aware of the disconnect between farming and consumers,' I said to Jim. Because of where they lived and grew up, many people - adults included - may not have seen cows up close before, if at all.

I thought Open Farm Sunday would be a fantastic opportunity to show the public what we do, and how we care for our animals. We did it for the first time last year and had 1,000 visitors.

It was lovely to see three generations of families out together. We invited other local farmers and supporting companies within the industry along too, and were able to show people different aspects of daily farming life, from shearing sheep and milking the cows, to haymaking demonstrations. For one of the children's hands-on activities we got them to sow seeds.

This year we're adding apple pressing and butter making, and the local young farmers are helping again. It's not just about selling produce to people, but giving them information too, and we're always open to questions.