Agritourism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agritourism is a style of vacation in which hospitality is offered on farms. This may include the opportunity to assist with farming tasks during the visit. Agritourism is often practiced in wine growing regions, as in Italy, France and Spain. In America, Agritourism is wide-spread and includes any farm open to the public at least part of the year. Tourists can pick fruits and vegetables, ride horses, taste honey, learn about wine, shop in gift shops and farm stands for local and regional produce or hand-crafted gifts, and much more. Each farm generally offers a unique and memorable experience suitable for the entire family.
Agritourism is being developed as a valuable component of a business model to support many agricultural entities when the farm products they produce are no longer economically competitive otherwise.
To help promote the single agritourism operations, farms get together and form festivals or tours, such as Agri-tours, a two-weekend festival in September celebrating the lower Ottawa Valley's unique farms. This festival includes over a dozen non-traditional farms that specialize in everything from deer and pheasant, to apples and wine.
People are more interested in how their food is produced and want to meet the producers and talk with them about what goes into food production. Children who visit the farms often have not seen a live duck, or goat, and have not picked an apple right off the tree. This form of expanded agri-tourism has given birth to what are often called "entertainment farms." These farms cater to the pick-your-own crowd, offering not only regular farm products, but also food, mazes, open-pen animals, train rides, picnic facilities and pick-your-own produce.
Dude ranches offer tourists the chance to work on cattle ranches and sometimes include cattle drives.
[edit] Additional reading
- Rural evolution: Experience the changing landscape of agriculture in the Valley (Source: Canadian Geographic)
