Agritourism Travel Guide

Agritourism means travel organized around farming, small-scale food production or animal husbandry. Visiting a working farm or ranch for the purpose of enjoyment and education are key parts of this often rural experience. Farmer's markets, wine tourism, cider houses and corn mazes all constitute examples of agritourism. Travelers who participate in this type of vacation frequently desire to see how food is grown and prepared or to learn how animals are raised.

Understand

“ The small landholders are the most precious part of a state ”

—Thomas Jefferson

Sometimes spelled, "agrotourism," Agritourism the idea of bringing urban residents to rural areas for leisure travel and spending.

In an increasingly mechanized world, many people have lost touch with how their food is produced, or the region where it originated. Agritourism offers tourists a chance to reconnect with the land, providing a "hands on experience" with local foods. Agritourism activities include picking fruits, tasting wine, tending bees, milking cows and other educational pursuits.

Agritourism immerses visitors in the heritage of a particular culture. Take the time to stop by a working farm or ranch, you will most likely discover people with an intimate knowledge of the history and traditions of their region. A traveler to Agros in Cyprus who helps the villagers gather roses in May, will learn something about the area's history producing rose water. Horseback riding on a dude ranch in Montana offers a glimpse into the lives of cowboys from the "Old West" of the U.S.. A visit to a food museum such as the Musee de la Boulangerie Rurale in Luberon can teach about the history of rural breadmaking in the Provence region of France.

For the most iconic agritourism areas, safeguarding the integrity of their products is nothing less than a source of national pride. In the European Union, Protected Designation of Origins (PDOs) look after the integrity of a wide variety of foods, such as Champagne wine in France, Asiago cheese in Italy and Melton Mowbray meat pies in England. All these regions are eponymous with the foods they produce, while a tourism industry has sprung up around that particular food's production.

Like ecotourism, agritourism focuses on travel that is low-impact and empowering to local communities, both socially and economically. Recognizing the need to diversify their farm products and supplement their agricultural incomes, many farmers consider agritourism as a viable option for the long-term sustainability of their farms. Agritourism can prop up an agricultural economy when local producers can no longer compete economically. The tourism takes place in a farm setting and is secondary to the primary agricultural operation.

Overnight stays

This can be as sophisticated as a bed and breakfast stay at a winery or as rustic as camping. One common variation is a farm stay, where guests help feed the animals and harvest the crops.

Dude ranches

A resort patterned after a ranch in the Western U.S., featuring camping, cattle rangling, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities. '

• Dude Rancher's Association - Created in 1926, the DRA is the governing body of the U.S. West’s dude ranch industry.

• Ranch Heritage
  • Farm and Ranch Museum - Located in Gering, Nebraska, in a series of big red barns, the museum looks at ranching practices of the Great Plains.

Farms

In Europe, it's referred to as "schlaf im Stroh" in German, "aventure sur la paille" in French, or "sleeping in the hay" in English. Spend the night on a farm and help out with domestic chores and demonstrations of native crafts. This could be an overnight stay in a rustic hayloft in Switzerland, a remote cabin or outbuilding in Austria, or even a full-blown apartment and rooms for daily or weekly rent on a farm in France. Here are a few resources:

• World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) - A chance for a farmstay combined with social activism and ecological practices.
• The Bed & Breakfast and Farmstay Association - Serves New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
• Help Exchange - Organization that connects holiday backpackers to farms, ranches and stables in exchange for labor. Travellers agree to a few hours of work for lodging. It is a sometimes rural version of a hospitality exchange.
• Hungarian Farmhouses - "Village Tourism" is popular and very well developed in Hungary, and can be a remarkable experience. Start your research with 1Hungary , National Federation of Rural and Agrotourism and Centre of Rural Tourism .
• Kibbutz Program Center - Nonprofit work studies program for young adults between 18 and 30 to work on a kibbutz farm in Israel.
• Nekazalturismoa Association - Rural guesthouse and farmhouse accommodation in Euskadi, Basque Country, Spain. Edificio Kursaal, Avda. Zurriola 1, 20002 Donostia-San Sebastian, Tel: +34 902 130 031. Email: agroturismo@nekatur.net.
  
  

• Farm Heritage
  • Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area - One of 37 federally designated heritage areas in the U.S. and an affiliate of the National Park Service. Celebrates the history of America’s agricultural revolution.
  • Funen Village - Open air museum near Odense, Denmark, presenting 19th century agricultural life in the Danish province of Funen.
  • Muckross House Traditional Farms - Visit three working farms in Ireland, demonstrating rural life during the 1930s and 1940s.
  • National Museum of Agriculture Kačina - A branch of a popular Czech Republic collection in Prague, the Museum of the Czech Countryside features crop and animal production, rural crafts, country life and farm machinery.

Not every farm visit is work related or educational. A common variation is an "entertainment farm." These rural amusement parks offer barrel rides, haunted houses, inflatable bounce and jumps, crop art, displays of old farm equipment and other forms of recreation.

Wineries

Winery stays are popular on every continent save Antarctica. Given the romance, history and cachet of wine, many view vineyard retreats as a "high end" agritourism experience. For more information, see wine tourism.

• Wine Heritage
  • Rheingauer Weinmuseum Brömserburg - Inside Brömserburg castle in Rudesheim, museum tells the history of wine production in the Rhine River Valley in Germany. Includes the world’s oldest wine-related collection, as well as a sizable collection of wine presses dating back to the 17th century.

Recreation

Weddings & honeymoons

Many farmers and ranchers are supplementing their income by offering wedding and event venues. Rehearsal dinners, barbeques and other activities can combine with the wedding ceremony. If there is an inn or bed and breakfast on the premises, newlywed couples can make a rural experience a part of their honeymoon travel.

Hayrides

A ride in a wagon, flat bed trailer or truck piled high with loose straw or bales of hay. A traditional autumn, harvest time activity in North America.

Horseback riding

Includes rodeos, horse farms and trail riding, the latter often directed by professional guides or outfitters.

• Hungarian Equestrian Tourism Association - Countryside tourism in Hungary, as viewed from the back of a horse.
• British Horse Society - Charity in the United Kingdom with a large number of resources for equine tourism around the globe.

• Equestrian Herirtage
  • Takekoma Inari Shrine and Horsemanship Museum - in Iwanuma in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. One of Japan's three major Inari shrines, featuring a monument inscribed with Matsuo Basho poems.

Corn mazes

A labyrinth or hedgerow made out of a corn/maize field, or some other kind of tall growing grain. There are two main methods for creating a corn maze: growing it from the ground up using special seeding techniques plotted out from a GPS-linked grid map, or to cut the maze pattern through a regular field of corn.

• Maize Maze Association of United Kingdom and Ireland -

Tanbo rice murals

• Inakadate, Aomori - A village in Japan famous for growing large murals out of various strains of heirloom and modern rice. The murals can be viewed from a tower behind town hall.

Food production

Milk and cheese

Visit a place where milk, cream and other dairy products are processed and sold.

• Numbur Cheese Circuit - Visit this cheesemaking region in the High Himalayas of Nepal.
• Chimay - In Belgium, near the French border. Since the 1850s, the Trappist monks in Chimay have produced beer and cheeses to support their order.
• Ag Heritage & National Dairy Museum of New Zealand - Explore the development of the dairy industry in New Zealand.
• Appenzeller Schaukaserei ] - Audiovisual exhibits at this museum in Switzerland give information on the manufacture and aging of cheese.
• Cuba Cheese Museum - Located in Cuba, New York, educates visitors on the history of cheesemaking in western New York state.
• Plansarski muzej - Museum of Alpine Dairy Farming in Slovenia. 19th century cheese factory, as well as the interior of an alpine dairy hut.
• Snow Brand Milk Products Historical Museum - Large museum located in Sapporo, Japan. On the premises of Snow Brand Milk Products factory, where the company first produced butter in 1925. After learning about dairy farming and milk products, visitors can sample ice cream and milk made at the factory.

Vegetable gardens

They are "Schrebergartens" in Germany, "dachas" in Russia, "friggebods" in Sweden, or vegetable garden plots and simple country homes where city dwellers plunge their hands into the soil on the weekends. It's possible to rent these allotment gardens in many countries as an alternative stay to a hotel or youth hostel. There is no central directory or database for finding allotment garden lodging; the information must be ferreted out of the various national and regional agritourism bureau websites.

• Ruralis - A consortium of rural and argitourism boards in Istria, Croatia. The Roman Emperors used to reward their legionaries with "latifundia", or little stone farm houses and garden plots. You can still stay in a handful along the Dalmatian Coast.

Heritage Gardens - Legacy or heritage gardens preserve the biodiversity of heirloom vegetables that may have fallen out of favor.

• Medicinal Plants and Vegetable Gardens - List of herb garden and vegetable garden museums in Wallonia, Belgium from the Belgium Tourism Office.
• Nationaal Asperge en Champignonmuseum - Housed in an old barn, exhibits focus on old and modern methods of cultivating asparagus and mushrooms in the Netherlands.
• Celery Flats Interpretive Center - A museum in Portage, Michigan, deciated to celery culitvation.

Pumpkin farms

• Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival- In Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the Windsor Waterfront and Exhibition Grounds, +1 902 798-9440 or +1 902 798-2728, Mid-October. This festival includes a number of pumpkin-related activities, but the highlight is the Pumpkin Regatta: contestants make boats out of giant pumpkins and paddle or motor them around Lake Pesaquid, often in silly costumes. Free.

Grain production

• Society for the Preservation of Old Mills - WIth the colorful acronym of SPOOM, this organization offers visitor information on historic watermills, stone windmills and grist mills throughout the U.S.
• Native Seeds - In an effort to preserve agricultural genetic diversity, this nonprofit group seeks out rare heirloom seeds adapted to the arid climate of the Southwestern U.S. and Northwestern Mexico. The group needs volunteers to help out on their conservation farm near Patagonia, Arizona. Tasks include weeding, repairing equipment, planting and harvesting.

Orchards

• National Apple Museum - - Pennsylvania museum in the U.S. exhibits the history and artifacts of the apple and fruit tree industry.
• Trat - This Thai province is famous for its array of seasonal fruits such as durian, mangosteen, rambutan, Long Kong, santol and zalacca, which are available right from the orchard.
• Sukhothai Cycling Route Through the Orchards - Also in Thailand. Enjoy cycling around and tasting a variety of fruits like pomelo, santol, sapodilla, coconut, star fruit, various kinds of bananas, as well as the tasty and fleshy plum mango (Bouae Macrophylla) with its chicken-egged size. Contact the Si Satchanalai District Agricultural Office, Tel. 0 5567 1036, or Village Headman, Mr. Saneh Mueangmun, Tel. 08 1395 7183.

Ground fruits

• Malang - In East Java, Indonesia. See tea, orange, apple, strawberry, vegetables in Lawang and Batu highlands
• Kanchanaburi - In Thailand. Province features seedless raisin vineyards, as well as a mixed cultivation farm with organic vegetables and plants of various kinds of processed agricultural products such as corn milk, vegetable juice, dehydrated banana and jack-fruit.
• Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center - Run by the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, in Warrens. Looks at the 100 year history of cranberry bogs in the area, with artifacts used to harvest the berries, including dugout canoes and handrakes, a scoop-like tool.

Maple sugar

Celebrated in places like New England and Eastern Canada. In Quebec, February marks the maple syrup festivities in the sugar shacks, as the maple trees awaken from the winter cold and prepare for the forthcoming springtime. These "Cabanes à Sucre" often feature restaurants serving maple syrup-inspired cuisine.

• New England Maple Museum - Real evaporators simulate the syrup making process in Pittford, Vermont.
• Maple Syrup Museum of Ontario - Learn about the history and process of maple syrup making in Ontario, Canada, through displays and videos. Artifacts include an old and a new evaporator, and candy molds.

Beekeeping

• Beekeeping Heritage
  • Plattner Bienenhof - Located on a 600 year old peasant farm. Learn the history of apiculture in the South Tryrolean region of Austria.

Animal husbandry

Alpaca or llama

These pack animals from South America are now raised around the world. Many farms offer tours and sell clothing made from the animal’s lightweight, insulating wool.

• Annual Michigan International Alpacafest - Held every year in Michigan.

Horses

• American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum - In Amarillo, Texas. Showcasing the history of the American quarter horse.

Poultry

• National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame - Museum in the U.S. state of Kansas featuring all things related to poultry raising, exploring the industry's history through antiques, memorabilia, pictures and lore.
• Loei Turkey Farm (ฟาร์มไก่งวงเมืองเลย)- in Thailand at Ban Ko Rai Yai, Tambon Siao. It belongs to Mr. Sathit Phaksiphaeng, the Vice Governor of Loei, who encourages local farmers to raise turkeys for their supplementary income as well as, be a tourism promotion by using a slogan “Think of Turkeys, Think of Mueang Loei”. There are thousands of turkeys in the farm. Tourists can witness the beautiful spread of turkeys’ tail feathers everyday from 8.30 - 12 a.m. Tel. 0 4281 3046.

Goats and sheep

• Amgueddfa Wlân Cymru - National Wool Museum of Wales in the United Kingdom.

Fish farms and aquaculture

• Lobster Safaris - Promoted by the West Sweden Tourist Board in Sweden.

Farm sanctuary

Falconry

Markets and festivals

Farm stands

Farmer's markets

• Domäne Mechtildshausen - Located next door to Andrews Air Force Base in Wiesbaden, Germany. Organic farmer's market run by the state of Hesse in 19th century brick stables. Bakery, cheese shop, fruit and vegetable stand, butcher shop. They raise their own cattle, poultry and pigs.
• National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association (FARMA) - A co-operative of farmers, producers selling on a local scale, and farmers markets in the United Kingdom. Info on farmers' markets, farm shops, or pick your own farms in the U.K.

Pick it yourself farm

Destinations

North America

Canada

Alberta

• Alberta Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

British Columbia

• British Columbia Agritourism Alliance

Manitoba

• Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

Quebec

• Agrotourisme Québec

United States of America

Europe

Denmark

• The National Association for Agritourism

Iceland

• Icelandic Farm Holidays (accredited by the national tourist board)

Turkey

• TaTuTa - volunteering and overnighting in eco/organic farms in Turkey

South America

Columbia

• Agroecotur: Colombian Corporation for Sustainable Agritourism and Ecotourism - Established in 2003, a non-profit organization of producers, professionals and non governmental organizations that work on rural and environmental issues. Tours of coffee plantations and sustainable livestock demonstrations available.

Asia

India

• Agritourism India .

Vietnam

• Agritourism in Bavi - Vietnam .

Africa

Stay safe

During a visit to a working farm or ranch, you will most likely encounter farm equipment and animals. Supervise your children around both and encourage them to use some restraint. Any visit to a rural area may include mud and manure, so wear boots or old sneakers.