Agritourism: Make your Farm a Destination

Guest Blogger: Craig Raysor, an agricultural and food attorney with the firm of Gillon & Associates, PLLC in Memphis, TN. You can follow him on twitter  @Agrilawyer.

As a desire of discovery of “where our food comes from” sweeps the urban/suburban landscape and brings people driving down your rural route that have never been on an unpaved road, you should seize this opportunity to develop your own brand. This can be done obviously through the food you sell, but also through making your farm a destination. Agritourism and agri-entertainment are great value-added products that can assist in keeping farmers on the farm and people interested in your products.

Harrison Pittman, Director of the National Agricultural Law Center, defines agritourism as any business conducted by a farmer or processor for the enjoyment or education of the public to promote the products of the farm and to generate additional farm income.  Harrison put together a very good article on agritourism back in 2006 that can be found here. These dual aims benefit the consumer as they are entertained and educated by and about your farm, and you as it increases direct revenue as well as creates branding of your products. Think of what Busch Gardens does for Budweiser or Hershey Park for Hershey. These are all products that the public would use, but there is a special bond the consumer can create when also entertained and educated on the products by these same companies.

Agritourism can even be more of a revenue builder with the rise of locavorism as many of your customers may be within fifty miles of your farm. You can organize an event a few weeks in advance and advertise the even through your website and during your direct market days. Anticipated ticket sales can help defray superfluous expenditures as you can accurately account for how much of whatever you may need.

Now here comes the gloomy lawyer part, after I got you psyched up about throwing in a hayride or a rock/country music laden wine/beer tasting. There are certain legal considerations you need to take into account before you begin inviting people into the barn or out into the field.

1. As you invite people onto the land, you may have a higher duty of care;
2. Your insurance may not cover agritourism;
3. You may want to create a new business for the agritourism; and
4. You want to look to the government for grant and market-building opportunities.

In order:

First, you are held to a higher duty of care since you invited these people onto your land, whether for payment or free of charge, than if you just allowed a friend on the land to kick it back with you or if they trespassed. The duty of care in the invitee situation, which you have in agritourism, is for you to use ordinary care to keep the premises reasonably safe for the benefit of the invitee. This means you are held to the same liability that the Wal-Mart in your town is held to regarding customer’s expectations. Therefore, it is important that you post where the invited guests are allowed to be on the farm as a protection against further liability. This also means that you need to have safe equipment, and properly trained personnel operating that equipment. Do not let your nine year old give a ride to the guests around the farm on a barely running tractor.

Please research your state statutes or, even more advisable, hire a specially trained attorney, to look over the state statute to see if you fit under a “Recreational use” statute if you do not charge for the person to be on the land. You may be free of all liability, except egregious or intentional acts, if your operation fits under a recreational use statute.

Second, see if you current insurance policies cover such activity, you may find many do not cover agritourism activities, because of the higher care and the higher likelihood of injury. You may have to get additional coverage or a separate policy altogether to protect your farm. You may have to do some additional digging in this arena, as many of your local carriers may not be able to offer such coverage. Please read here for more information regarding agritourism insurance.

Third, you may want to create a separate business formation for tax purposes and liability protection for your agritourism activity. This will allow only assets attributed to that company to be at risk in case of a lawsuit. There are a variety of different formation options that can be dictated by state law. There may even be encouragement within your state to form agritourism cooperatives as it has been in many southern states.

Fourth, check out your state’s ag department if they are getting behind the value-added product of agritourism. There are grants and matching-funds programs out there within the states and federal government. In addition, it can be a wonderful marketing tool for your farm to utilize in addition to your individual marketing. It has even become a tab on the general Tennessee tourism site with links to individual farms throughout the state.

These are a few ideas and suggestions to get you going, but remember to have fun with the new venture as well and use it as a time to let your farm and its products shine.

What the Heck is ProFood Anyway?

Guest Blogger: Orren Fox is 12 years old and lives in NoBo (North of Boston). He goes to school where there is a greenhouse and a bee hive! Orren has 24 chickens and four ducks (three Call Ducks and one beautiful Mandarin). He is really interested in farming and the ethical treatment of animals. Orren would love to change the way egg layers and meat birds are raised. He says he has a lot to learn. He blogs and tweets about these issues.

Every Kitchen Table is a proud supporter of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.

ProFood is two words smushed together. They were smushed together by people who were trying to get across a new idea. That idea was trying to get people to think about the food we eat in a different way. Right now there is a lot of “food” in the supermarket, but not much of it is PROfood.

So, what is ProFood?

“Pro” means you are “FOR” something. For example, I am pro ethical eating. That means I support it. I believe in raising animals in a way that is humane and respectful. I’m a humane-itarian. To be ProFood means you are FOR food. That sounds funny, but what I mean is that you think about food, you care about food and you will make an effort for good food. I am also Pro chocolate and Pro Red Sox.

Also, “Pro” means professional, to be a pro at something you are the best. I am really into Pro Sports and the people who participate at the Pro level are PROfessional. They have spent a lot of time working at their sport to the point where they are the best. I’d like to be a Pro Basketball player and play for the Celtics.

To me ProFood is both of these ideas. ProFood is the very best food and ProFood is a way of thinking and acting that is “For Food”: it supports and respects the farmer who grows it, the person who picks it, the land it is grown on, the person who cooks it and the people who eat it.

Right now it doesn’t seem as if America is very ProFood.

People don’t really think about food, we expect it to taste good, be available all the time, be convenient, be safe to eat and I guess not cost too much. People don’t value good food. It seems as if people are always trying to find the cheapest food, not the best food. I think people might care more about the quality of the gas they put into their car than they do about what ingredients they put into their body. I don’t think most people would say they are ProFood.

If America were ProFood we wouldn’t accept food with dangerous ingredients in it. Unfortunately there are chemicals in our food that aren’t good for us kids. My mom just finished a book called The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O’Brien, and she told me about the problem with artificial colors and artificial growth hormones. Think about it. We are kids and are still growing, think what happens when we drink milk or eat meat where the cow has been given artificial growth hormones. What do you think it does to kids’ bodies? I’m sure someone would tell me “Oh don’t worry about it, it won’t get into your body.” I don’t believe that. It just doesn’t make sense. If you feed it to the cow, and I drink the milk or eat the meat, you’re feeding it to me. I don’t want it. I’ll grow on my own.

Why do I think someone will tell me not to worry about it?

I think because everyone expects that the food we eat won’t be bad for them. We expect all food to be safe and maybe even good for us. Did you see the article on the front of the New York Times on October 4, 2009? Woah. A girl named Stephanie was paralyzed from eating meat that was considered safe. Why would a company make something that is so dangerous? Think about all the chemicals in some candy. It isn’t good for us. I imagine it is hard work to make everything safe all the time, but it seems as if this should be the top priority of a food producing company.

How can we make America or even just your own home or school ProFood?

• Choose pesticide free, hormone free, and artificial color free foods
• Drink water instead of high fructose corn syrup sweetened drinks
• Eat fresh foods like an apple or sliced red pepper rather than foods that never rot.
• Ask where your food comes from and how it was raised
• Plant some seeds in the spring in a little pot and if you grow too much share it with a neighbor
• Respect the farmer, rancher, farm workers, animals (they are farm workers too) and the planet. (Some of these ideas come from Food, Inc.)

I hope in the future we might see more small growers, farmers, bakers, cheesemakers, in our neighborhoods.  Obviously not everything we eat can come from right down the street, but if there were more, we would know how the food was raised and we would be able to support our neighbors. Having little farms throughout neighborhoods would really help people be ProFood. You can even do it in cities, just look at Will Allen and Novella Carpenter ( I’m reading her book now called Farm City) This obviously won’t solve everything but it is a start. I think at some point the big companies need to think in a way that is more ProFood than promoney. I’m sure people will say I’m naive. They are right. I have a lot to learn. But, hey it’s a start.

Right now we have about five new small organic farms that have popped up in our area, so we can go by and pick up fruits and vegetables that were picked that day. These farms are also canning some of their crops so they will be available through the winter. One local farmer, Matt, showed me how he has invented a drop ceiling for his greenhouse, so when it begins to get cold he can continue to grow greens without having to heat the entire greenhouse. He is doing this so the cost of the greens are not too expensive.

I am doing what I can to help my friends to be ProFood – I am hoping to start a Farm Club at school! Right now I’m struggling a bit, trying to figure out what subjects to cover. Someone on Twitter suggested start with soil. I think that is a good idea.

5 Ways to a Better Eat Local Challenge

Like any good entrepreneur, I believe there are always better ways to do something. In this particular case, I have identified five ways to improve Eat Local Challenges to ensure they best achieve their desired objectives. Before sharing those suggestions, let’s make sure we’re on the same page regarding why such challenges exist in the first place.

Ask 10 people why they eat local and you’re bound to get 10 or more different answers. In Burlington, Vermont, where my family just completed its weeklong “eating local” adventure, the reason for the challenge was loosely described as:

“Help keep your community thriving by being becoming a Localvore! We love Vermont and want to keep as much business as possible in our wonderful home! Anytime you buy locally grown or produced products, you keep money and jobs in Vermont.”

In the Mad River Valley of Vermont, where its localvore chapter is well known, its Eat Local Challenge the week before Burlington’s had the following objective:

“The Eat Local Challenge is an event where participants pledge to eat only locally grown and produced foods.  Participants will have the option of choosing to pledge by the meal (one or more meals), by the day (one or more days), or for the entire week.”

Notice a pattern?

Perhaps it’s unique to Vermont, but it seems that the primary reason for participating in an Eat Local Challenge is because it’s a good thing or the right thing to do for your community and the regional economy. Not bad, but after spending a week in the trenches with my family, I’m convinced we need a better objective. Here’s my suggestion:

To fundamentally change the region’s food system – from seed to plate – to ensure locally grown, raised and processed food is widely available and easy for consumers to find and purchase from regionally-owned retailers.

Think about that for a minute.

Rather than simply joining a challenge to feel good, shouldn’t we be doing so with the intent of demanding change and reinforcing those demands with our actions and dollars?  If everyone involved, from the farmer to the processor to the family of six is thinking “fundamental change”, then that is what they will be talking about, brainstorming about and working toward.

With that objective in mind, here are the five things I believe must change or be improved to make every Eat Local Challenge successful in driving permanent change in our regional food systems.

1. Season-Long Challenge – In today’s hectic, go-go world, people need time to ease into new ideas. That is why I’m recommending that Eat Local Challenges begin when school gets out and go through the autumn harvest. Giving people the chance to get their feet wet, try new foods, try growing and preserving their own food, etc. will go a long way in winning their hearts, minds, pocketbooks and, most important, ongoing commitment to local foods.
2. Food System Coordination – With a longer window to positively impact behaviors, it will be critical that more food chain businesses participate and promote the Challenge to keep in front and center in people’s minds. Farmers markets and CSA programs are two great places to reinforce the Challenge, as are restaurants and food retailers (thinking weekly Challenge Specials). The point is that by aligning the Challenge with most of the growing season, we make eating local a bigger, more visible part of everyday life.
3. Shades of Local Labeling – Possibly my biggest frustration with eating local is finding local food, beyond produce, which at times can be a little challenging as well. My suggestion is to develop a Challenge labeling structure that allows farms, processors and retailers to help direct consumers to foods containing all or some local ingredients that were partially or completely processed within the Challenge radius (typically 100 miles). The highest marks and “most attractive” label would go to products that were 100 percent grown/raised and processed (if applicable) in the region and sold by a retailer that is 100 percent regionally owned. You could throw “organic” or some other sustainable criteria on top for good measure. You would also provide labels for “Shades of Local,” which would allow products with greater than 50 percent local traits to be considered the next best alternative.
4. Peak Week Celebrations – Rather than have the Challenge be a single week, where by the time it is over most people are just getting their legs under them, why not have the season-long challenge culminate in a Peak (Harvest) Week celebration? Participating consumers would go for the 100 percent local diet during this week, which they would hit in stride, with the added bonus of people coming together to celebrate the Challenge, food producers, retailers and each other.
5. School District Involvement – Given our kids will likely be back in school when the Peak Week hits, and given my kids first-hand experience with school lunch hours, it will be ideal to have the region’s school dialed in on the challenge. While they may not be able to alter their lunch menus much, they like retailers could draw attention to the “localness” of menu items. In addition, they could actively promote the Challenge and encourage teachers and students to do their part to raise awareness and increase consumption of local foods.

Now imagine this happening every year and capturing more participants from all walks each time around. The real, measurable impact in every region employing such an approach will make it all worthwhile, especially as permanent, year-round, regional food options become more available. Think of it as an upwardly spiraling regional food economy. Get the picture?

Of course there is one problem my regions will face in trying to implement these suggestions – lack of resources.

That is why I am recommending that local food retailers drive this more advanced version of Eat Local Challenges based on its potential to serve their bottom line interests, while equally benefiting the regional food economy.

To be clear, when I say “local food retailers” I’m talking about locally-owned stores, not your “friendly” national-owned, 50,000-square-foot, 45,000-item supermarket just around the corner. Such businesses need not apply.

Now who’s with me?

Related Posts:

• 10 Joys of Eating Local
• Is Buying Food Locally More Important than Eating Local Food?
• How Eating Local for One Week Might Just Revolutionize our Food System