Opportunities abound for growing local agritourism
Endeavors can supplement producers’ income, but are not risk-free By Jeff Rice Sterling Journal-Advocate
In Vermont, tourists can visit any number of maple tree orchards, tour the facility that produces the famous maple syrup, and buy the farm’s product. Farmers’ markets open every summer and fall across America, bringing fresh produce, eggs, milk and meat directly from the farm to the consumer. And in the
Colorado high country, ranchers guide sportsmen to some of the best flyfishing spots in America. It’s called agritourism and it’s emerging as a viable adjunct to production agriculture. According to the USDA National Agriculture Library, agritourism is “a form of commercial enterprise that links agricultural production and/or processing with tourism in order to attract visitors onto a farm, ranch, or other agricultural business for the purposes of entertaining and/or educating the visitors and generating income for the farm, ranch, or business owner.” Agritourism has been around for a long time. The dude ranch probably originated in the Dakotas in the mid-1880s; the first
recorded ranch was near Medora, N.D., in 1884 owned by the Eaton brothers, businessmen from Pittsburgh. The previous winter had been one of the harshest on record, devastating the cattle
herds on the open range. The Eatons bought a busted ranch and began offering hunting and fishing tours. Most people think of “guest
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10 • OCTOBER 30, 2021 • SALUTE TO AGRICULTURE
See AGRITOURISM, pg. 11
