Essex Schools Food and Farming Day
Tuesday 22nd June 2027 | Event
After another hugely successful show in June 2026, we are excited to see you all again for 2027 for our 19th Essex Schools Food & Farming Day! If you wish to join us for our 2027 event, please submit your school application within the given timeframe to have a chance of joining us!
The Essex Schools Food and Farming Day is a yearly event organised by the Essex Agricultural Society giving 3,000 Essex school children aged 8 to 11 (years 4, 5 & 6) the opportunity to visit ARU Writtle and find out how their food is produced, the role played by farmers in Essex and the many related jobs within the industry.
This is financially supported by several Trusts and organisations to whom we are extremely grateful. The day relies on our wonderful farmer stewards, lots of exhibitors who give up their time, the staff and students from ARU Writtle and our other sponsors who fund the event.
Timings for the 2027 event:
Applications open to schools on – Monday 28th September 2026, 10am
Submissions need to be received by – Friday 6th November 2026, 5pm
Places will be confirmed to schools by (including invoice & arrival/departure times) – Friday 27th November 2026
Payments of deposits (all schools) due – Friday 29th January 2027
Payment of Event Fees (Independent Schools, Academies and schools who come under Thurrock or Southend) due – Friday 29th January 2027
Teacher Briefing Event – Monday 14th June 2027, 12.30pm and 3.30pm (to be delivered by MS Teams)
Will there be any online content this year?
In 2021 and 2022, we created a covid-safe way of still delivering information, resources and interactive activities to schools across Essex that they could take part in within their school environment.
Although we are back to hosting the live event day, we will be keeping our Online Resources element so that we can extend our reach beyond the numbers we can accommodate on our event day at Writtle College. This content will be kept updated and can be accessed at any time by all schools across Essex. There will be information, video content, activities and lots of content relating to all of the 5 zones that you would see at our Food & Farming Day.
Sponsors
Testimonials
From pupils, teachers, chaperones and parents…
“The Essex Schools Food & Farming Day provides an amazing opportunity for our children to see first hand the processes involved in food production. The many interactive exhibits manned by real farmers and food producers really help the children understand the journey from field to fork. This event adds to our pupils’ science capital by allowing them to become immersed in the world just beyond the garden gate.”
Darren Bretton, Teacher
“I just thought I would drop you a quick email to say how much I enjoyed the day on Essex Schools Food and Farming Day and thank you for organising it so well. The Vange school were a great group, who were very engaged and excited with the event and very responsive in keeping to time frames which made it a really fun event.”
Volunteer Farm Steward
“Dear ESFFD Team, On behalf of Otter Class at Stock School, we would love to say a massive thank you for what you have organised for us. We all had a great day”
Callum, Stock C of E Primary School.