Fifth Conference speaker announced

Engaging with your community : Rebecca Dawes, Open Farm Sunday

Rebecca is the Scottish Co-ordinator for LEAF Open Farm Sunday, an initiative that sees nearly 400 farmers, crofters and smallholders open their gates annually on one Sunday in June (9th June 2019). Her family also take part each year and to date have hosted 11 LEAF Open Farm Sunday events plus many others including lambing, “all about ewe”, the farming Christmas nativity, a book of farming, school visits and numerous other days linked to food, farming and nature. These events have ranged from 10 to 3500 people running from one hour to a full-day.

Rebecca has a First-Class Honours degree in Events Management and is a graduate of the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme. She is a Judge for Lantra Scotland Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards. Co-Manager of the Rural Youth Project and works full-time for Jane Craigie Marketing, an agency that specialists in the agricultural and rural sector. She also has her own herd of pygmy goats but has yet to try goat yoga!!

Rebecca will give the conference a really good insight and plenty of examples from her experience of Open Farm Sunday to help our members learn more about engaging with the public, helping promote/sell their goods/services and running the event.