How to partner agriculture and tourism?
That’s the question Destination Marketing’s Cassandra Harrington is trying to answer for both Schoharie and Otsego Counties.
DMC handles tourism promotion efforts for both counties and Ms. Harrington told the Agriculture Committee that she’s been working with Ag Specialist Nick Kossmann and Cornell Cooperative Extension Executive Director Liz Callahan, to harness the opportunities farms offer in drawing visitors for tours, sit-down and farm-to-table meals, and on-farm tents, yurts, and glamping.
Because tourism doesn’t necessarily speak the same language as agriculture, Ms. Harrington attended her first-ever International Workshop on Agritourism, held August 30-September 1 in Burlington, Vermont.
More than 54 countries were represented at the international conference, she said, all facing the same challenges.
“I was there to learn how to speak bi-lingual—tourism and farmer,” she said. “The farmers were there because they know they need to diversity their income stream, but aren’t sure how to go about it. They need help marketing.”
One valuable insight Ms. Harrington said she gained from the conference’s keynote speaker: people aren’t necessarily visiting farms to learn more about agriculture.
“But they’re leaving them understanding the importance of shopping local and the amount of impact they can have on local farmers that way,” she said.
Looking at what Schoharie County’s done successfully in the past, Mr. Kossmann pointed to the success of the School of Country Wisdom, a collaborative effort between the Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce, Planning & Development, and CCE in the early-2000s that let farmers share “wisdom” on everything from potting plants to making maple syrup.
SUNY Cobleskill tried something similar with its one-day Lifestyle Farming Conferences in the late-2000s.
“There are ways in incorporating ideas like that without overwhelming farmers,” Mr. Kossmann said. “The fact is, what farmers do every day is interesting to the general public. We need to help farmers realize that. That it’s a worthwhile use of their time.”
The hugely-successful Family Farm Day has found a way to help boost farm traffic, Ms. Harrington said, but she’d love to see it grow to two days, something that would lead to overnight stays.
“There are a ton of opportunities here,” Ms. Harrington said, but they’re “not for everyone,” pointed out Gilboa Supervisor Alicia Terry, who’s worked in economic development, tourism, and agriculture.
“Some farmers don’t want to be happy every day and there are a lot of moving parts” to agritourism, Ms. Terry said.
The first step in growing agritourism farmers is finding out who they are; Mr. Kossmann is working on a list, and the group is looking at ways to get its message out.
“We’re already doing it,” Ms. Harrington said. “It’s a matter of figuring out how best to promote it and who these people are.”