Farms Grapple With How to Maintain Pandemic Agritourism Boom

There is a apple path in Sonoma County and a Cranberry Highway in Wisconsin. You can walk along wildflower hike in Oregon or stroll across the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. Each of these adventures falls under the banner of agritourism and includes activities that bring the general public to farms or ranches. It may seem reckless to some, but the agritourism industry is a boon of opportunity for many states and regions as it allows farms to continue doing what they do best: feeding the world.

The trick for farmers is to get people on the farm in the first place. During the pandemic, farm tours and stays have been an easy draw for cooped-up families looking to get away. Agritourism has grown in popularity over the past two decades Sales tripled between 2002 and 2017. And with the tight travel restrictions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, agritourism proved even more popular, offering a welcome solution for people looking to get away without leaving their state.

Now farmers are working to keep this surge of interest going.

“We realized that a lot of people are looking for things to do close to home, so we tried to capitalize on that and offer a range of events,” says Elizabeth Riffle, owner of riffle farms in Terra Alta, West Virginia. Now, Riffle says her bison farm is also a tourist destination, and when people come to visit the farm, she tries to make the experience memorable. Guests begin with a full farm tour, viewing the bison enclosures and handling system. They also experience first-hand how sporty bison can be. “[The guests] often do not realize that an animal of this size can jump over a two meter high fence. It’s pretty crazy to watch, let me tell you.”

Visitors to the farm can get to know the animals, pet them and feed them. Afterwards, Riffle prepares bison steaks or burgers for a tasting. “Originally I had to get you out of there so that you could come to my shop,” she says. “It’s evolved into a multi-faceted approach that I really love because now there’s a pedagogical component [the visit].”

In 2019, Riffle Farms had approximately $4,000 in agritourism revenue. In 2020, the farm’s agritourism profits shot up to $10,000. Now that the US is back to normal and people are resuming their pre-pandemic itineraries, Riffle is trying to find ways to maintain the farm’s popularity of recent years.

Originally, the 2022 season mirrored the 2020 season, with monthly events and open houses. But Riffle found that not as many people were signing up, which left her with a difficult prospect: If people went back to their regular travel plans, it would be harder to get them to the farm.

Unexpectedly, the solution to Riffle’s problem may lie in slowing down. She started offering a few big events instead of lots of smaller invites, which turned into big crowd pullers. “We’ve been able to film and capture some of the events that we know have worked well and brought us the most revenue over the years,” she says. These are things like the annual bison roast that brings hundreds of people to the farm. They also participate in the Preston County Farm Crawl, which opens the farm over a weekend. Riffle has also added a tour and tasting once a month, which allows her to focus on a smaller group of people. “You don’t have to do an event every weekend or every other weekend. You just have to be able to pull off a really cool event once or twice a year and you’re spot on.”

In Albany, Georgia, Clinton Vicks is still figuring out his optimal balance of events and guests. The owner of Vicks Estate, Farm and Fisheries has increased the number and types of events he hosts this year, experimenting with what might work best for him and his guests. “I do tours weekly,” says Vicks. He also hosts Taste of the South Barbecues, where he cooks and grills for guests, presenting dishes like jerk chicken and grilled asparagus. This fall, he’s expanding his offerings to include indoor offerings, starting with a high tea. “It’s a tea room where we combine traditional high tea with southern tea and present a five-course meal.”

As well as being a host on his estate, Vicks is also a teacher and sees education as a key part of his job. When people come to his farm, he can offer them an unforgettable experience and a lasting lesson in closeness to nature. That’s a particularly important goal that Vicks must offer its black guests. “For at least 10 years there has been a drive within the black diaspora to go back south and reclaim land,” explains Vicks, noting that he is part of this movement himself. “We’re exhausted…Now we’re prioritizing our lives over our careers.”

That’s partly why Vicks joined Agritourism Trail in Southwest Georgia, a partnership with Airbnb in which all experiences available to guests are hosted by Black Farmers. Vicks recognizes that while he welcomes the black community into his home, it has never been his goal to serve only that community. Instead, membership in the Trail is a platform that helps him introduce more people to farming by “bridging the divide and eliminating the tensions” he says many people find when it comes to farming. “I live by the motto of Gandhi, which is to create the world I want to live in,” says Vicks.

Part of this world is that ordinary people are more comfortable with where their food comes from and the labor that goes into making it. It’s a lesson that many state tourist boards are trying to teach tourists as well. California, for example, nearly 78,000 farms produce almost half of the country’s nuts, fruits and vegetables. As a result, the state tourism board is working to bundle experiences, promote wine routes or fruit tastings to anyone it classifies as “interested in agriculture.”

Floridas Agrotourism Association has developed an app to help people find their perfect trip. In an email to Modern farmer, representatives of the board say that agritourism is indispensable for many farmers and producers. “Farmers struggle from year to year and season to season to maintain their revenue streams,” they note. “Agritourism has literally saved a lot of family farms.” The board says it has seen membership increase in recent years, with 80 new farms joining in 2021 alone.

Of course, agritourism only works if it is carefully planned and welcomed. A few years ago a farm was established in Flamborough, Ontario overrun by people clamoring to take photos in his sunflower fields. The farm was open for the day and thought it would receive a few dozen, maybe a hundred people. Instead, thousands of people fell, running down the highway, crashing into the fields and damaging crops.

While that kind of enthusiasm is exciting, it’s something Vicks and Riffle keep in mind when promoting their own farms. They want to entice a good number of people to come and see them without getting overrun. Additionally, marketing their events is extra work that they need to make time for — no farmer is a full-time influencer. But Riffle says she tries to push herself when it comes to promotions.

“I think it’s great that people are on social media now and getting a glimpse of what life on the farm is really like and what it actually takes to milk a cow and feed the chickens,” says Riffle. “I think agriculture in general is lagging behind when it comes to traditional business marketing, but we’re catching up. And I think it’s going to help catapult the industry into the public eye… Suddenly people want to come visit. For example: “May I touch the cow? May I take a selfie?’ That’s great.”