Alberta Open Farm Days is an event that can give many local farmers and businesses the opportunity to showcase what they do, and to show people how they can support locally sourced goods.

Many events are being cancelled this year due to the restrictions and regulations in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the 2020 edition of Open Farm Days across Alberta will be a go for August.

"This has been a recurring event now for several years and the importance of it is for farmers and ranchers to invite rural and urban visitors to the farm to learn more about how farmers, producers, and processors grow the food, it's really learning where your food comes from and to become educated so you can make good consumer decisions and to support the local economy," said Wendy Gerbrandt Community Economic Development lead for Community Futures Wild Rose.

The province's agriculture department notes that Albertans are interested in understanding and exploring where their food comes from, and also who is growing it. The Open Farm Days event has been running for nearly ten years and the 2020 event will take place on August 15 and 16.

The goal is to have multiple farms open their gates to visitors during that weekend, and this year will also see some changes to ensure special safety measures are in place. To keep visitors safe and maintain social distance from each other, the organizers are going to have online bookings to manage the number of people visiting each farm over the course of the weekend. These events take place across Alberta to see those involved visit albertafarmdays.ca. 

For the ranch owners and farms that choose to take part in the event, applications are currently being accepted, those who want to be a part of Alberta Farms can register at albertafarmdays.ca. In the past, the group has seen over 100 applications from those interested in being a part of the event, with the new regulations and current climate Gerbrandt is hopeful for continued registrations this year.