Showers don’t deter Open Farm Weekend crowds

Despite some bad weather, the UFU’s Open Farm Weekend initiative enjoyed a fantastic turnout recently with nearly 10,000 people visiting real, working farms to learn more about farming and local food. The event, now in its second year, saw a large increase in participating farms and an even larger increase in people visiting a farm, many for the first time on the weekend of the 15^th and 16^th of June.

Morrow Communications ran an integrated communications campaign for the project involving media relations, social media management and advertising across TV, radio, online and local press titles. The campaign ran in two distinct phases - the first targeting the agri-sector to encourage participation in the event from potential host farmers and young farmers and the second to drive awareness and understanding of the event with the consumer, which ran just ahead of the main event. Morrow were also tasked with managing the project’s online presence and providing on-farm teaching aids to help relate the “field to fork” message to farm visitors.

The OFW team at Morrows were delighted to see attendance figures this year soaring far beyond those of Open Farm Weekend 2012 - in total 9,690 people visited participating farms this year - an almost 100% improvement on 2012 figures. 

Barclay Bell, Deputy President of Ulster Farmers’ Union said, “The weather conditions were certainly challenging for some of our farmers on the Saturday. But I was delighted to see first-hand that this didn’t deter the people of Northern Ireland from coming out in their thousands to make the most of Open Farm Weekend!”

The 2013 initiative saw 19 real working farms opening their gates to the public to learn more about where their food comes from and to get a “behind the scenes” look at a real, working farm. Each event was as unique as the farmer, with some providing fascinating guided tours and others hosting eating challenges, barbecues, games and petting zoos. 

Open Farm Weekend is a project by Ulster Farmers’ Union and is supported by The Department of Agriculture’s Regional Food Programme and Business in the Community NI, on behalf of The Prince’s Countryside Fund and is sponsored by Bank of Ireland UK and NFU Mutual.

SENTINUS Vs POTUS

Clashing directly with the recent G8, President Obama's visit to the Waterfront Hall,  and the associated (and over-hyped) traffic chaos in Belfast city centre, is the type of nightmare scenario that would give most event organisers sleepless nights. Yet despite this, hundreds of young innovators and their teachers from across Northern Ireland still attended NI’s Largest Science Fair – the Sentinus Young Innovators Exhibition –at the nearby Odyssey Arena. 

While Obama was eloquently suggesting that NI's future lay in the hands of the younger generation within the Waterfront Hall (and by association, not those of our comparatively ageing politicians, media and business leaders that also managed to snaffle a ticket), the Odyssey was meanwhile bursting with the very thing he must have had in mind.

As exemplars of what is required to drive forward a strong knowledge based economy in Northern Ireland, these young primary and secondary school students(and their excellent teachers) were at the Odyssey from early on - with their innovations and experiments in tow. Keen to avoid the expected traffic problems and with many travelling long distances from all parts of Northern Ireland they were not going to be deterred by the presence of Presidents or Prime Ministers. They have a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and were determined to showcase their excellent innovations. It was also an opportunity to meet and learn from fellow innovators from all traditions and to test themselves against their peers.

While it was a hugely successful event with many remarkable inventions and innovations on display, unfortunately not all the news was good on the day.  Sentinus Chairman, Jim Stewart took the opportunity to express serious concerns about the current statutory curriculum commitment to STEM subjects in Northern Ireland. Speaking at the event he said;

“The presence of the G8 countries here today brings into sharp focus the economic standards that NI must aspire to and that is particularly apparent in their commitment to the promotion of Science Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects in their schools.  Within Northern Ireland we have unfortunately been falling behind in this global race and the current curriculum commitment to the delivery of STEM subjects in our schools fall far short of what is needed to compete with the strongest economies in the world. In many primary schools STEM subjects are barely given lip service while in secondary schools there is no requirement for students to take STEM subjects, with the exception of maths, at GCSE level. If we are to compete with the best in the world we must inspire and enthuse more young people, like those attending the Young Innovators Event today, to see the importance of STEM subjects. Our concern is that we are barely able to meet the needs of current employers seeking such skills and if we are serious about becoming a strong knowledge economy, it is imperative that we act now and prioritise STEM on our school curriculum.”

With G8 mania behind us, this is a challenge that our politicians and leaders would do well to tackle. Developing a knowledge based economy is recognised as a critical part of our future economic aspirations and instilling an interest and passion for STEM subjects in our young people is a fundamental building block. Some have said that Northern Ireland has always had an innovation gene - but even accepting that was the case,  it would appear that we need to rediscover it and to ensure it is embedded in our young people's DNA.    

Business Editor at the Belfast Telegraph, David Elliot  picked up on this point in a recent editorial where he said; "That news needs more urgent attention than anything which came out of G8 and should be the big take away from everything which has gone on this week."  

Hopefully these words and those of Jim Stewart will not be lost in the G8 afterglow.

Putting the Media in the Spotlight

We were delighted to be a part of the 2013 Coca Cola CIPR Media Awards last Friday night- celebrating the cream of our local print, broadcast and online media. Sponsoring the Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award, Morrows attended the buzzing event at The Mac Belfast basking in the evening sunshine.
Hosted by Eamonn Holmes, the theater style event was a fresh approach on the 20 year old awards ceremony. It was fantastic to see new talent such as Sara Girvan and the Cool FM breakfast team winning gold on the night as well as seasoned reporters such as Anne Hailes who claimed the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Special congratulations go to Claire Savage from the BBC who picked up our sponsored category for Broadcast Journalist of the Year. The judges said Claire was a 'polished reporter who always finds the connections' - we couldn't agree more and were delighted to present the gong to her on the evening.

Congrats also to the CIPR NI committee for hosting another great night allowing our local media to be recongised, applauded and, most importantly, let down their hair to celebrate!