- Presented by Lisa Chase, Dee Singh-Knights, and Penny Leff (see bios below)
- This webinar took place on January 28, 2021. A recording is available here.
- Slides from the presentation are available here. (PDF)
- During the webinar, the speakers shared a link to their website where summaries and reports are available: https://www.uvm.edu/vtrc/agritourism-survey
- They also shared an article — “Agritourism: Toward a Conceptual Framework for Industry Analysis” — published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.
Webinar Description: A multi-state team of extension specialists and researchers conducted a national survey in 2019 of farms, ranches, and vineyards open to visitors for any reason, including farm stands, u-pick, overnight stays, tastings, events, community supported agriculture (CSA), tours, hunting, etc. Survey questions included products and experiences offered, motivations, challenges, support systems, profitability measures, and plans for the future. We received 1834 responses representing all 50 states.
During this webinar, members of the team will share the survey findings with a focus on regional differences across the US. They’ll also address questions about the results and share ideas for translating the findings into Extension programming to support agritourism during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the presenters:
- Lisa Chase, Director of the Vermont Tourism Research Center and Extension Professor at the University of Vermont. Her research and outreach focus on the intersection of food systems, community vitality, and working landscapes. During the past 18 years, she has worked with farmers and food entrepreneurs throughout Vermont and around the world. She is the conference chair of the International Workshop on Agritourism, which will be held in Burlington, Vermont in August 2021. Before moving to Vermont in 2002, Lisa conducted research and outreach in Colorado, New York, Costa Rica and Ecuador, among other places.
- Dee Singh-Knights, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design at West Virginia University. While Dee’s research and teaching interests are broad (agribusiness economics and management, risk management and business planning, local foods initiatives, and holistic planning for small farms), she believes that agritourism represent an enormous opportunity to increase access to locally and regionally produced agricultural products, and to develop new market opportunities for farm operations serving local and expanded markets. Dee has worked extensively with partners in WV over the last five years to start the WV Agritourism Initiative, a business planning and risk management program for individuals wanting to add an agritourism operation to their existing farms. Dee’s aim is to help operators seamlessly integrate agritourism into their farming operations and manage the resultant business risks, in order to harness the viable opportunities presented by both the agriculture and tourism industries while minimizing negative impacts on the farm.
- Penny Leff, Agritourism Coordinator with the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program in the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She has coordinated UC statewide agritourism support for more than ten years, organizing agritourism training, planning, promotion and collaboration activities with UC Cooperative Extension and agricultural organizations throughout California. She manages online communication with the California agritourism community and a directory promoting CA agritourism operations to the public. Penny lives in Sacramento and enjoys working with the different agritourism associations and independent operators across the state.