Transcript
Most people think of Agritourism as going out to a pumpkin patch or maybe doing some wine or cider tasting.
And it's true you know those are really popular activities. But it's really so much more than that.
It brings people out onto farms, to buy products, to have experiences, to really help people understand
"What does it take to produce food and fiber?"
"We are an agritourism destination we try
and bridge that urban and rural gap by
providing our guests
with an educational experience when they visit our farm. OSU Extension can really
help out smaller farms and help them
kind of find a place to start and how to
bring more people onto their farm as
another source of revenue.
And it just gives them a great set of resources for them to use." Agritourism is very broad.
There's actually five main categories: [First] going on to a farm to a farm stand or
maybe U-pick. Those are examples of farm-direct sales. The second category of
activities is education -- going on to a farm to learn something new. The third
category is hospitality. That's often culinary types of activities, such as
farm-to-table dinners. Fourth is called outdoor recreation: horseback riding or
birding or hiking. Then the fifth category (last category) is what we call
entertainment -- a farm festival like harvest festivals running through a corn maze.
"Because it kind of raises awareness about the importance of agritourism,
it brings more people on to farms and kind of builds their interest and makes
them maybe want to purchase more locally. It gives people a great stepping stone a
great first place to start if they're not sure how they want to get their
business going or how they want to incorporate more Agritourism to their business.
That keeps people coming back
year after year and with the help of OSU
we can build those loyal repeat customers." Before farmers and value-added
operators who would like to diversify their operation and add Agritourism,
they can just contact us. I will be happy to help.
Agritourism is an operation that connects consumers and tourists with agricultural products, producers and places, usually on farms and ranches. It’s a way for agriculturists to diversify their business, attract more customers and remain sustainable.
From fruits to flowers and meat to fiber, this seasonality chart will help determine what agriculture products are in season and available directly from farms in the Willamette Valley region.
There are five categories of agritourism activities. Farm-direct sales is the largest category.
Download file: On-farm Agritourism Activities in Marion County, Oregon. It shows the types and numbers of activities offered, the seasons of agritourism, and reveals the average and median acreage and land use districts typical of agritourism operations.
Want to learn more about this topic? Explore more resources from OSU Extension:
Agritourism
