RSPB Hope Farm opens to the public this Sunday

Around 1,000 people have booked to attend Open Farm Sunday at Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire this weekend. 

LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Open Farm Sunday is a UK-wide event that gives people the chance to visit farms, meet farmers, and learn more about how food is produced. It’s about creating open conversations between farmers and the public, and showcasing the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture today. 

We’re taking part because we believe the future of farming and the future of nature must go hand in hand. 

We bought Hope Farm in 2000 to learn how nature-friendly farming can work in practice, producing food while also restoring wildlife, improving soil health, and adapting to climate change. Over the years, the farm has enabled us to show that by planting more hedges, creating areas rich in flowers and seed producing plants and restoring ponds, species like Skylarks, Yellowhammers, and Linnets can thrive alongside a productive farming business. 

Open Farm Sunday allows over 1,000 people of all ages to see the work at Hope Farm first-hand and hopefully leave inspired about the role of farming in helping to save nature and tackle climate change. This is vital, as across the country, many farmers want to do more for nature, climate, and water, but they need the confidence, support, and long-term stability to make that possible. 

Our work on farming doesn’t stop at Hope Farm. We invest in science to help find the solutions, and we work with Government to support policies and schemes that are properly funded, accessible, and ambitious enough to support farmers to do the right thing for nature. 

Open Farm Sunday is a chance to have honest conversations about the challenges farmers face. This year we’ve already seen record breaking temperatures in May impacting on harvesting time for British strawberries and placing huge stress on livestock. Three of the worse harvests on record have been in the last five years as extreme heat, drought and prolonged rainfall have all taken their toll. But nature can help. Creating areas rich in wildlife on farm, planting trees and nurturing soils can help build resilience to these extremes.   

Nature-friendly farming is not about farming less. It’s about farming in ways that protect the natural systems agriculture depends on like pollinators, healthy soil, clean water and a stable climate. 

But farmers can’t do this alone. Collectively, we can call on Government to back nature-friendly farming.