Posts Tagged: agritourism

*Insider source* refers readers to UC Web site

A brief blog post on Adventure Travel 101 introduces readers to the concept of agritourism and points them to the UC Small Farm Program's agritourism Web site, http://calagtour.org.

The blog appears on examiner.com, billed as "The insider source for everything local." Writer Dana Nichols, who has the good fortune of working from Mammoth Lakes, Calif., notes that many people have already participated in agritourism without knowing it by visiting pumpkin patches, tasting wine at a vineyard or purchasing fruit at a U-pick farm.

In the post, she quoted the UC Small Farm Program's definition of agritourism: “Agricultural tourism is a commercial enterprise at a working farm, ranch or agricultural plant conducted for the enjoyment or education of visitors, and that generates supplemental income for the owner."

Unfortunately, Nichols perpetuates a common misconception by attributing all the information she gleaned about calagtour.org to UC Davis, an easy thing to do since that's where the Small Farm Program is located. But it doesn't help spread the word about the good work of ANR's specially funded statewide Small Farm Program.

The opening screen of http://www.calagtour.org.

UC ANR news popping up in many places

To close out this short Thanksgiving week, there are a number of UC Ag and Natural Resources hits in the media:

Capitol Press covered an agritourism seminar held recently in Stockton and developed a detailed article with much information drawn from a presentation by Holly George, UCCE's Sierra and Plumas county livestock and natural resources advisor.

Besides the more conventional agritourism ventures - pumpkin patches, corn mazes, wineries and U-pick operations - "serious" farms can benefit from the trend by opening their farms to the public for activities such as hunting, bird watching and hiking, he said.

TradingMarkets.com picked up a Lake County Record Bee story about a contentious meeting of the county board of supervisors. The board is planning to form a committee to hammer out the details of an ordinance concerning genetically engineered agricultural crops.

According to the story, the farm bureau recommended that UCCE farm advisor Greg Giusti be appointed to the committee, but local organic farmer Phil Murphy was opposed, calling Giusti "extremely biased" for having written papers against regulation of GE agriculture.

The Produce News reported that the Center for Produce Safety received $500,000 in new research funding aimed to help the produce industry gain a better understanding of ways to prevent contamination during production.

According to the story, the center was launched in response to the 2006 E. coli outbreak and funded with $2 million from the Produce Marketing Association and another $2 million from Taylor Farms. CDFA and UC also pledged financial resources for the center, which is housed at UC Davis.

Worldwatch Institute ran a story about the downside of drip irrigation. Drip irrigation has been touted for its water-saving efficiency. In traditional flood or sprinkler irrigation, the water not absorbed by crops seeps into the ground and recharges aquifers. As drip irrigation becomes more common, recharge of groundwater may be less frequent, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Blake Sandon was one of many experts across the nation interviewed for the story.

He said California has become the world's No. 1 producer of almonds over the past 30 years, due in part to the increased use of drip irrigation. Almond farmers have required some 15 to 20 percent more water, but average yields nearly doubled.

"You cannot produce high-yield crops without a fairly significant input of water," Sanden was quoted. "In the end of the day, hungry people will win the game."

 

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Happy Thanksgiving! The ANR News Blog will be back with more about ANR appearances in the news media on Dec. 1.

Relax, learn and support agriculture

An agritourism story that first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News last month is continuing to make the rounds in U.S. media outlets, most recently in the San Diego Union Tribune and the Yankton Press-Dakotan.

The first paragraph sets the stage with sun gilded grass, a rickety rocking chair and a herd of angus cattle. The ranch where reporter Leslie Harlib did her research doesn't have a theme; said the owner, "We just are what we are and have been since the 1930s: a working family ranch.”

Sharing that heirloom existence with the public is helping some farmers make ends meet. Harlib spoke to the director of Marin County UC Cooperative Extension Ellen Rilla, who said the trend is driven for consumers by "a culinary evolution."

“People feel disconnected from where their food comes from, and they want to be reconnected,” Rilla was quoted. “They want to know the farmer and the rancher. Taking the family and the children to experience gathering eggs, being in a barn, seeing how cows are milked, is also very important.”

 

NY Times calls California the ag-fair Mother Lode

The New York Times today ran a story that mixed irony with admiration for California's ubiquitous agricultural fairs. The irony was in descriptions of festivals in areas where the featured crop -- for example apricots in Patterson and garlic in Gilroy -- is celebrated, but no longer widely grown.

"In Gilroy . . . (garlic) is now grown on only about 500 acres. Half of the garlic sold in the United States now comes from China; most California garlic comes from the Central Valley, near Fresno," the story says.

The story reported that ag festivals still have an educational component, noting that UC Cooperative Extension informed fairgoers of mandarin's natural decongestant properties at the Mountain Mandarin Festival in Auburn, Calif.

In addition to the apricot, garlic and mandarin festivals, the story mentioned the Dry Bean Festival in Tracy, the Pear Fair in Courtland, the Stockton Asparagus Festival and the Castroville Artichoke Festival.

Another festival in the press today is the California Youth Fair, featured in a Contra Costa Times article. The story said the fair began as "Youth Fair 2000" by the Contra Costa County 4-H program. Organizers changed the name in early 2007 and formed a nonprofit organization to run it.

The article said the change was made to permit more children to participate. Minimum age has dropped from 9 to 5 and exhibitors no longer have to be members of 4-H, FFA or the grange.

Apricots are featured in Patterson.

UCCE advisor praised for ag tour

Calaveras County UC Cooperative Extension director and farm advisor, Ken Churches, was praised in a Union Democrat article published yesterday about the county's leadership program ag tour.

"Ken does a great job," the story quoted leadership program participant Bill Schmiett, the owner of Mountain Ranch Realty.

Churches took the new leaders to visit a variety of the county's agritourism destinations, reported staff writer Sean Janssen.

"Agriculture and agricultural tourism are a very significant part of the economic engine of Calaveras County," Churches was quoted. "Murphys, you can see, was built entirely around agricultural tourism. It's the diversity in agricultural tourism that makes Calaveras County a wonderful place to live."

The group visited California Cashmere, Al-Rafiq Farms, Rancho NC Alpacas, Calaveras Nursery, Trinitas Olive Oil and Golf Course and Twisted Oak Winery.

The photo with this post, which shows Churches in the early years of his tenure, is from the UCCE Calaveras Web site.

Ken Churches

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