Agricultural Tourism

Unique Niches - Agritourism in Britain and New England

Section 1: Study Organization

The primary purpose of my sabbatical study was to obtain agritourism information that may be applicable and useful to agriculture in West Marin. Two key questions provide the basis of the study: 1) what type of agritourism might best be transferred to our local setting? 2) what key variables and considerations must be in place in order for agritourism to become a viable choice for interested farmers and ranchers? A secondary purpose was to gather information for developing California materials for Cooperative Extension and other interested farm advisors.

Farmers are looking for alternative approaches to maintaining profitable agricultural enterprises and are considering agriculture and nature based tourism activities. Agricultural tourism, or agritourism, is defined as " a business conducted by a farm operator for the enjoyment and education of the public, to promote the products for the farm, and thereby generate additional farm income" (Beall, 1996). There may exist an economic opportunity for West Marin farms and ranches (and areas in Sonoma County) to increase farm profits by developing several agritourism operations in addition to their current operations.

I focused on agritourism in England and selected states on the east coast of the United States based on my reading and research into activities in these areas. I visited areas there that were similar to our farm communities in size, scope and attitude which had also developed profitable tourist ventures on farms. My aim was to see how these activities might be replicated in our area and to expand my knowledge of this type of venture.

Contacts

A colleague at Cornell University was completing a doctorate on the English parks model and knew several key managers in England. I wrote to them asking for assistance in organizing my visit. Based on their feedback and suggestions I narrowed my focus to three areas of England near national parks that were similar to West Marin. My criteria for selection included distance to large metropolitan areas, number of visitors to area, size and type of agriculture, rural setting with small villages, and of course, the local people and their willingness to host me.

I met Norm Bender, an Economic Development Specialist with the University of Connecticut during an Agriculture in the Environment Conference in Boston in 1995. In his presentation he described a survey he had conducted to assess farm interest and current activities in agritourism and subsequent grant-funded development of agritourism opportunities in 26 counties in Eastern Connecticut. He put me in touch with Bob Townsend, an Extension Specialist in Community Development in Vermont working in this area, and Diane Kuehn at New York State University at Oswego. With their assistance I organized a fall tour of agritourism ventures in Connecticut, Vermont, and upstate New York.

Methods

I began with a literature search to identify suitable locations in both locales and spoke with colleagues and others knowledgeable in the subject. Art Mills, formerly with the Marin Community Foundation, referred me to a contact at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. The foundation had sponsored an exploratory tour to several of the national parks in England looking at voluntary private recreational opportunities with landowners for public access. While this was not my focus, their trip report indicated that there was quite an active agritourism program in and around the parks.

I developed a questionnaire that I used for all my interviews. I used these questions and general format while interviewing 16 local farmers, ranchers and officials prior to my leave in 1997 and for the 54 persons I interviewed in Britain and the 30 persons in Connecticut, Vermont, and New York. The focus of the questions changed depending on whether the person was in business or just considering. I organized the interview responses in this report by question asked except where case studies are highlighted. Interview summaries are provided rather than individual interviews. More detailed copies of interviews are available by request.

I conducted my interviews in person. I also photographed various agritourism activities, shot 20 rolls of film and was given a mountain of materials to take back. My report is a distillation of all this information.

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