Inaugural Saskatchewan Open Farm Days sows seeds of knowledge, connection
Global News
Several farms opened their doors to visitors this weekend during Saskatchewan Open Farm Days. The farmers say the event helps people connect with a vital industry.
Across the province, a number of farms opened their doors to visitors, during Saskatchewan Open Farm Days on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11.
For Ward Hepting, vegetable farming has been the family business since before he was born. Now Hepting and his family operate Seven Meadows farm, a greenhouse-style horticulture farm, near Regina Beach.
Hepting said he’s happy to take the chance to talk to and educate the public on modern-day farming and bring awareness to the industry.
“(Farmers) have ventured out in multiple different ways with a great variety of products. We’re doing vegetables, we’re going be doing hard apple cider here soon, but there are people doing so many different things,” he said.
He credited modern technology for the farming industry’s ability to shift. However, Hepting said he feels that as the province urbanizes, residents are moving away from Saskatchewan’s farming roots.
He said he hopes to restore that connection to farm as he believes it can be vital both as a consumer and as an employee of the industry.
“There’s a lot of ingenuity that’s come out of Saskatchewan because of the rootedness in Saskatchewan agriculture and that’s desirable, all over the world. People desire that, so if you have a background as working on a farm in Sasktchewan and you have that experience, you literally are employable anywhere in the world,” Hepting said.
About half an hour east of Saskatoon is Wander’s Tiny Farm – a pig farm in Blucher, Sask., with a section of the farm that’s open for public visitations year round.
