Low Carbon: Unlocking the secrets of the farm

For most Brits, the kind of life that the Pigotts lead is a foreign one.

The forty-something - along with his wife, two children, and one farmhand - take care of 1,700 acres of land spread over five rolling farms near Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

They follow a crop rotation of wheat, oilseed rape, spring barley and beans - and keep a few horses for neighbours, too.

But with 80% of the British population now living in cities, it's hard for many people to imagine just what Ian and his family get up to every day.

And with startling research showing that nearly one in three Britons has never set foot on a farm, Ian decided to do something to reverse that trend.

He opened up his farm to the public, and encouraged other farmers to do the same. And on Sunday, June 7, his farm - and 400 others across the UK - will be open to anyone and everyone for the fourth annual Open Farm Sunday.

Opening up

According to Defra, nearly 80% of British land is farmed and produces 60% of all the food we eat. In spite of those figures, however, most of us still see farms as separate to our daily existence, says Ian.

"While I was still a trader in the City, I saw this enormous disconnect between the farming industry and the public," he explains, as we walk through his 600-acre wheat field.

"A lot of my friends had very little idea about food or the seasons, and at the same time British farmers were getting blamed for the changing face of the countryside. It was frustrating. I thought, 'Here we are producing food and doing so much good', but we weren't getting our own message across."

So Ian, along with the help of Caroline Drummond, the chief executive of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) - an organisation that helps farmers be more sustainable - started a pilot scheme in 2006.

Their aim was to get farms to open their doors one summer's day and explain to the public just what they do with their tractors, trailers and barns.

"We thought we might get 20 or 30 farms involved to begin with, but we got 150," says Ian. "From the very beginning it was a success."

And last year was Open Farm Sunday's biggest success to date, with 150,000 people visiting farms across the UK.

At Ian's farm, Thrales End, the 2,500 visitors were met with trailer and tractor rides, a farmer's market, an animal farm, seed giveaways and info packs and colouring books for the little ones.

"We've always had a reputation of 'Get off my land', but this gets people to trust farmers more and understand the story behind their food," explains Caroline, who works to promote greener farming through LEAF and whose husband is a dairy farmer in Cornwall.

"Most people don't understand where their food comes from, because the distance between the farm, the supermarket and their stomach is so huge," says Ian.

"Did you know that to actually produce milk, a dairy cow needs to have a calf? Most people just think that dairy cows just produce milk all the time, which isn't the case. But once you actually step onto a farm, you start to understand a bit more about what's happening behind the scenes."

A learning curve

Whether you're interested in history, geology, agriculture or animal husbandry, getting onto a farm is a great way to spend a couple of hours and learn something new.

The Pigotts' farm, for example, consists of a whopping 1,700 acres of wheat (used to make McVitie's digestives), beans (for local animal feed), oilseed rape (for biodiesel) and spring barley (for malt whiskey).

Ian and a farmhand take care of the entire lot - with the help of tractors and trailers that cost £1,000 just to fill up!

But in Ian's father's day, the Pigotts' farm was a 400-acre affair that was worked on by 20-odd people and ploughed by six horses.

The science of agriculture has changed so much in the past 60 years that machines have replaced men and fertilisers have ousted horse manure. But learning about these changes is all part and parcel of understanding our food, our culture, and our future, says Ian.

"I had one little girl who came to visit last year and, as we were walking around the farm, I pointed to this field here and said, 'This is where we grow the wheat to make digestive biscuits'," he says.

"She looked at the field, and then turned to me and said, 'But then where's the field where you grow the chocolate?'

"This is why we put on Open Farm Sunday - so we can learn."

Get down on the farm

The best way to get behind the scenes is to get down to a farm on Sunday, June 7.

Activities will range according to which farm you visit, but you can expect to get some goodies on the day, such as a taste of the local produce or a packet of seeds.

And children can take part in games such as "map sticks", an old Native American tradition, whereby kids take a bale of twine together with a stick, and decorate them with grain, feathers, leaves or flowers found on the farm.

"It's a great souvenir to remind you of what you've done on the farm - and to remind parents, too," says Caroline.

Some farms also have a designated "crime scene", where a dead bird has been found, and everyone has to work out what's killed it. Was it a fox? Another predator?

"But by far, talking to a real, live farmer is the most popular activity," says Caroline.

Ian agrees: "It doesn't matter if you have 250 pigs or one, people want to see the animals - and they definitely want to meet the farmers.

"We get loads of people from all over visiting our farm - some from neighbouring counties, others from London, but it's the people who are right next door, who say, 'I've been overlooking your farm for the past 20 years but have no idea what you do,' that are the most interesting."

The most important thing is for visitors to enjoy themselves. "We just want people to come out to the farm and have a great time," says Caroline.