Ecotourism and Agritourism: Possibilities for collaboration

I met Irene Lane last September at the International Ecotourism Conference. She recently launched an ecotourism website called Greenloons, and she got in touch with me to ask if she might write a guest post for The Farm Stay Project. Here are her compelling suggestions for ways that agritourism and ecotourism might be better integrated.

Michelle asked me to provide some suggestions for how organizations that promote agritourism can better cooperate with organizations that promote ecotourism considering consumer confusion about both types of tourism and the overlap of social and environmental goals.

As a manner of introduction, earlier this year I founded an ecotourism travel services company that specializes in offering independently certified, family-oriented ecotours.  I became interested in ecotourism when I noticed my own young son’s wide-eyed fascination with nature whether we traveled across an ocean or across the state.  Nothing delighted him more than visiting zoos, hiking through the wilderness, or kayaking through scenic waterways.

 

Consistently, my husband and I noticed the absolute wonder and amazement he had for the music, art, flora or fauna he saw in front of him. His wonder was almost always followed by an onslaught of illuminating questions about people and the natural world. 

These were 'teachable moments' for my son that marked his personal growth, and it occurred to me that other families might benefit from an opportunity to experience nature in a way that would be educational, inspirational, safe and fun.  In this way, agritourism and ecotourism are very similar. To answer the question at hand, there are some fundamental ways the industries can work together to promote our common sustainability goals, including:

• Incorporating farm stays into ecotourism itineraries
• Developing relationships with ecotour operators
•  Targeting promotion to urban areas including international cities
•  Promoting of the educational value of farm activities 

Incorporating farm stays into ecotourism itineraries

Earlier this month, the University of Costa Rica published a study that discussed the agritourism and ecotourism marketing efforts in that country.  Costa Rica has both strong agricultural traditions and a thriving ecotourism industry. 

The study delineated some interested examples of how cross-industry promotional efforts have helped farmers as well as ecotour operators. These examples included incorporating ½ to full-day coffee plantation, traditional fishing, dairy, and pineapple tours. Ecotour itineraries featured local guides and accommodations as well as meals made with, of course, local ingredients.  

Developing relationships with ecotour operators

With the exception of Alaska, the United States is relatively new to the concept to ecotourism and where there is chaos, in my opinion, there is opportunity.  Ecotour operators are looking to provide their customers with unique experiences in the United States that will set them apart from the traditional mass-market tourism that has existed in this country.  Therefore, it would be worthwhile for farm stay operators to contact ecotour operators (which I could help with) to see if the farm can be included as part of an itinerary (i.e. providing accommodation, providing local farm lunch, helping with some light conservation work, conducting a tasting of local farm products, attending a farm food festival).

Targeting promotion to urban areas including international cities

What is additionally interesting about the University of Costa Rica study is that the majority of agritourism visitors in Costa Rica are international visitors.  Most of the locals did not see a need to pay for a rural experience since they could visit their relatives in the countryside.  I think there is a marketing lesson here when promoting agritourism, namely to target urban populations and publications that have a critical mass of environmentally-conscious consumers.  An example in the Washington, DC region is Flavor magazine, an independently run publication dedicated to sustainable food, gardening, local farmers, and organic restaurants. 

Promoting the educational value of farm activities 

Many school curriculums are beginning to incorporate the use of a school garden into their science, health, nutrition, and math lessons.  What better way to bring these concepts to life than to have a designated farm stay school program that teaches about farm traditions and food production?

Basically, for both ecotourism and agritourism, it comes down to increased awareness and better perception of the industry’s economic, social, and environmental benefits.  Since my family ecotour destinations company, Greenloons, has launched, the site has been phenomenally received.  It’s been very exciting and proves that there is tremendous market potential for these unique, educational, and fun tour experiences.

-Irene Lane

Book Review -- Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge

Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge is a memoir by Gordon "Zola" Edgar, who buys and sells cheese for the Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco.

Cheesemonger traces Edgar's accidental road into the world of cheese, explaining that he stumbled upon his job circuitously, after growing up on punk politics and less than gourmet Velveeta and Kraft singles. After working at Rainbow for a while and sampling cheese after cheese but loving none of them, Edgar’s life changed for good when he tasted an Antique Gruyere. That Gruyere was his gateway cheese.

Throughout the book, Edgar interlaces stories about his life as a cheesemonger with platefuls of cheese descriptions and buying tips. He also offers bits of insider’s wisdom on cheese snobbery, farming practices, raw milk, and worker-owned cooperatives. Though officially a memoir, Cheesemonger is more than just an autobiography. Edgar delves into the complexities that underlie certain food buzzwords. For instance: what does it mean when a farmer says he grazes his cows on pasture? Does that mean the cows get the majority of their food from a pasture? Not always. As Edgar notes, especially when it comes to “ill-defined catchphrases,” what’s good for marketing isn’t always the whole truth. Farming is full of compromises. But he doesn't gloss over the gap between farming ideals and practices. He aims to tell the whole story, and "not just the pretty bits."

Gordon Edgar might seem like an unlikely champion of farms: when he was younger, punker, and growing up in San Francisco, his bogeymen were the farm boys who allegedly waited outside Marin County punk shows with ax handles. It's ironic, says Edgar, that he now makes a living selling a farm product. Edgar calls the cheesemakers he knows an interesting mix of 1970s back-to-the-landers and old farm families. Their politics and religions vary, and Edgar muses that some of his leftist customers might not be so eager to support the cheesemakers if they knew about their religious fundamentalist or conservative beliefs.

But one of my favorite things about agritourism and the local foods movement -- and Cheesemonger highlights this point well -- is that they encourage unlikely alliances across cultural divides. In the words of Edgar, "In this country, where urban and rural communities have become increasingly polarized, if one believes that blue/red election results are indicative of people's true feelings, food is one of the few remaining avenues of contact. This exchange isn't much, but I try to do my part to build solidarity by not being an elitist jerk."

Cheesemonger has the right ingredients to be a fun read. First, it's about cheese, a delicious, strange, and ancient food. Second, it's written by a passionate punk-inspired ambassador with a righteous anti-snob attitude. That Edgar also delves into topics like farmland preservation and farm policy is a great bonus.

Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, by Gordon Edgar, was published in March 2010 by Chelsea Green

Farm Stay Features, Upcoming Conferences

In a food feature for the Memphis Flyer, Sarah Christine Bolton gave a glowing report of food and agritourism in Chattanooga, TN. Bolton says that the city is "embracing artistic endeavors, sustainable business, locally grown food, and a thriving agri-tourism industry."

Photo: Working Horse Winery

Becky Gavigan of Granville Online wrote about the Working Horse Winery Inn in a recent article. The organic, 22-acre horse-powered vineyard and farm stay is an in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, in BC, Canada.

   

Photos: Joy Henkle  

Joy Henkle of whitewaterwarehouse.wordpress.com, a blog about travel, food, river rafting, and hiking in Southern Oregon, recently featured Pennington Farms. The 90-acre berry farm has an "old school" bakery and farm store specializing in berry pie and jam, as well as a 3-bedroom farm stay rental home. The pies look amazing.

Upcoming agritourism conferences and workshops

The 2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, & Organic Conference will be held in Springfield, IL from January 6-8. Thanks to the Local Matters blog for this info.

Western North Carolina Cooperative Extension is holding The Business Side of Agritourism Workshop from January 27th-28th.

The fifth Tennessee Agritourism Cultivating Farm Revenue Conference will be held in Nashville on Jan. 28-30, 2010, in conjunction with the Tennessee Horticultural Expo.

According to Durham, NY's The Daily Mail, the Durham Agricultural Community Partnership announced a Farmer’s Forum tentatively scheduled for Jan. 28. The forum is meant to update farmers on the progress that the Partnership has made in exploring ways to strengthen local agriculture and markets. Agritourism is one of the Partnership's four primary research strands, which also include forestry, livestock, and maple syrup production. According to local farm stay host Sherry Hull of Hull-O Farms:

Every farm is unique and they each have something different to offer. My visitors tell me how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. They say they don’t want to leave at the end of their vacations. We have to remind ourselves of how it looks from their perspective and appreciate and experience our lifestyle through their eyes.

The Nebraska Governor’s Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop for 2010 will take place Feb. 3 and 4 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Kearney. The workshop is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Travel and Tourism Division, along with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Nebraska Department of Agriculture.

Local officials in Augusta, VA are "buzzing" with talk about agritourism, according to an article by Chris Graham in the Augusta Free Press. From the article:

“The pressure on farmers is clearly there,” county economic-development director Dennis Burnett said. The county economic-development plan includes among its action points the development of strategies to help farmers grow and diversify their businesses ... “It contributes to the bottom line if we can make farming more economically viable. And at the same time, it preserves our rural landscape. It can be a win-win for everybody.”

Nova Scotia and North Carolina

The theme of the articles I've been posting lately seems to be: you can't make a living from just farming anymore -- at least not the kind of farming in which farmers sell to middlemen who determines the price of the goods. Different strategies are in order, from direct-to-consumer sales to hosting customers on the farm for all kinds of activities.

"A tough row to hoe," by Gordon Delaney of the Halifax Chronicle Herald, discusses Nova Scotia's once booming, but now struggling, hog industry. In Nova Scotia, says the article, "Large retailers can bring pork into the province cheaper than local farmers can produce it."

It sounds much like the dairy crisis.  The cost of farmers producing the goods is greater than the wholesale price that they receive for the goods.

Photo caption: At the age of 53, Gerald Vermeulen is being forced to shut down his Canning hog operation. The lifelong farmer’s eyes fill with tears as he says: ’It’s going to be difficult for me to transition into something else, but that’s what I’m going to have to do.’(Photos by TIM KROCHAK / Chronicle Herald Staff)


From the article:

The hog industry is an example of how farmers have had to struggle to survive in a changing marketplace where large national and international grocery chains rule, and competition from cheap imported food products puts the squeeze on local farmers...There’s been a huge consolidation over the past 10 years among retail chains and other food distributors, putting the primary producer at a disadvantage in negotiation and positioning of prices, relative to the costs involved in producing food.

The article continues to analyze the food security risk inherent in a system in which only 7.2% of consumers' food dollars go to local farmers, down from 10.1% in 1991.

There is now, however, a small reverse in the trend. The local foods movement is changing consumer behavior, and some farmers are diversifying and pursuing agritourism in order to become resilient to the tough market.

Photo caption: Caroline Bishop and her father, Andrew, have branched out into alternate farming methods at their Noggins Corner Farm near Wolfville. Plastic field tunnels allow them to grow things like raspberries that normally couldn’t be grown here this time of year.