| From the President’s Desk |
It’s a wonderful day to be an agriculturalist in North Carolina (agriculturalist is a fancy name for farmer). As I view the many emails, articles and newsletters, I see more activities, more income-producing avenues and more creative venues to encourage, entice and attract visitors to our homes and farms. From field mazes to produce stands, the North Carolina farmer is becoming more and more the entrepreneur. I can see all of us at the forefront of the growing North Carolina tourism industry. While tourism has been a marvelous source of revenue for our beloved North State, typically, the tourist venues have been places like Tweetsie Railroad and Carowinds of our state - great tourist destinations, but they generally draw from a local crowd and for just one day. From the North Carolina tourism website, “agritourists" usually spend more than one day touring their particular site(s) of interest, generally spend considerably more money on lodging and food, and tend to look for an authentic “experience.” Next year I am going to see if I can get some tourists to come and pay me to help us pick our grapes in the vineyard – now that is an authentic experience! The Virginia Department of Agriculture published the following accounting of the agritourist spending in Virginia; for every $1.00 spent at a vineyard in Virginia, $6.00 is spent in surrounding activities and services. I think the numbers would be comparable in North Carolina. I also think these numbers would be comparable for other agricultural activities as well as just for vineyards. Nonetheless, all is not ‘wine and roses’ in North Carolina Agriculture. Most of us struggle daily with the arduous and monumental task of getting people to our agricultural sites. We have challenges both locally and on the state level to make it easier for us to attract visitors. Many avenues are open to us, but most are too expensive, too specialized or too restricted in their use/availability for the majority of us to take full advantage. We struggle with the elements – a dry June when we need rain, and a wet August because of some tropical storm when we need sugar to be on the rise instead of the decline. We struggle with the time we have to spend at a desk or computer with accounting and bookkeeping because we love our land and want to see profits from what we grow and produce, but we’d rather be in the fields. However, most of us would not trade what we do for anything else in the world. We live and operate our agricultural operation on a Century Farm. Farming is in our blood and in our heritage as it is in all of yours. There is simply no better place to raise a family or build a legacy than on the family farm. I am glad that is what we are about at NCANA – building the future, one farm at a time. Got to Be NC Agritourism! Dwight Austin |
| "Agritourism in the Mountains" Mountain State Fair, September 7 - 16 |
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Agritourism farms and wineries and vineyards in the mountains will be the Agritourism booth in Davis Arena at the Mountain State Fair in September. Many of you will be attending the fair and I hope that you will schedule some time to volunteer at the Agritourism booth. This will be a very visible way to promote your farm before thousands of visitors. Brochures, farm products, scrapbooks, and your friendly face that you show to visitors will do more to attract folks to your farm, winery or vineyard than you can imagine. ANA members and other agritourism farms in the West, Southwest and Northwest districts will be featured at the booth. Sponsors who donate $25 will have their farm/vineyard/winery names on a large poster and they will receive prominent and visible publicity at the booth. The sponsorship donations will be used to support ANA programs. Sponsors will also receive a smart "Got to Be NC Agritourism" golf shirt. One new feature at the exhibit will be a raised relief map of North Carolina which will be a teaching tool for old and young to learn about what kinds of farms are located in North Carolina. The exhibit will also have a computer to show fairgoers how to find agritourism farms across the state, and a printer to produce a copy of the farm's General Store website for the visitor. |
| Virginia State University farmers to visit ANA member farms |
Limited resource and minority farmers sponsored by Virginia State University Extension staff grant funds will visit agritourism farms and one roadside market in late August to look for ideas they can use to increase farm revenue through direct marketing strategies and other agritourism options. The bus tour will stop at Vollmer Farm, Triple “S” Ranch and Lazy O Farm on Wednesday, August 29. On Thursday, the group will visit Ganyard Hill Farm in the morning, have lunch and tour the State Farmers Market, and visit Ashley Porter Farm and Nursery before returning to Petersburg. |
| Glass Appointed to National Agritourism Partnership |
| Martha Glass, Executive Director of NC ANA, has been invited to participate in the National Agritourism Partnership sponsored by the National Agricultural Law Center of the University of Arkansas School of Law. The Partnership will bring together individuals who represent states from across the country that pursue and enhance agritourism opportunities for producers and citizens in their respective states. Members will provide input regarding the legal and policy issues facing agritourism in each state to help guide the Law Center’s research and information activities relative to agritourism challenges across the country. |
"Full Throttle Fun" at the Mountain State Fair |
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The 2007 edition of the Agritourism Directory is in the print shop. There are over 280 entries in the directory this year. The new cover features farms and two wineries from across the state. The directory also has a list of the department's state farmers markets, and a list of this year's county fairs. The directories are expected to be ready before the Mountain State Fair so that some can be distributed at the Agritourism exhibit. Directories will be available at the nine state Welcome Centers and other tourist destinations. |
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Over 150 laminated liability warning signs were mailed last week to 2006 and 2007 ANA members, and a few non-members. The new signs were laminated to prevent the amount of fading some members have reported. One suggestion has been made to take the signs down if possible if they are only used seasonally and store them flat. The cost of mailing the signs has increased by 30% in addition to increased cost for laminating the signs. Therefore, the costs to ANA non-members will increase. ANA will absorb the costs for members in the dues for both Active and Sponsor memberships. |
| ANA Annual Conference at Caraway Center, on Friday, February 1, 2008 |
| The ANA officers and board of directors have reserved Caraway Conference Center north of Asheboro on Friday, February 1 for our second annual conference and business meeting. Once again attendees will be able to reserve rooms for Thursday night. This year, the program and following business meeting will be held in the morning with adjournment after lunch, and a bus tour of several area farms is planned for the afternoon. More information on the conference will follow soon. Please mark your calendars so that reservations can be made in a timely manner. |
| John Gillis of Gillis Farms Interviewed by BBC |
| John Gillis of Fayetteville reported recently that he had been contacted by the British Broadcasting Corporation and was asked to be available, if chosen, for an interview and on-site filming of his farm. The BBC is searching for farms with a Scottish heritage for a future film project. |
| 2007 State Fair Agritourism Exhibit - "Got to Be NC Agritourism across the State" |
The 2007 State Fair is scheduled from October 12 – 21, and the Agritourism exhibit will once again be located in the Goodness Grows tent next to the Kerr Scott Building at the Blue Ridge Road gate. The theme this for the booth this year is “Got to Be NC Agritourism across the State.” The booth will feature a raised relief map of the state to show fairgoers where our major agritourism attractions are located - from the mountains through the piedmont to the coast. We will show folks how to use a computer to find a farm business on the General Store that they want to visit, and give them the farm’s General Store Web page to take home. Sponsors who donate $100 will have their farm names and locations on a large wall chart and will receive a “Got to Be NC Agritourism” golf shirt or one-day admission pass to the fair. Sponsors who volunteer for a booth shift will receive both a shirt and a pass. Supporters who donate $50 will have their farm’s name on a smaller poster. Supporters who volunteer for a booth shift will get a shirt or a free pass. Shift hours will be 9 am – 1:15 pm; 1 pm – 5:30 pm; 5:15 – 9:45 pm every day for the 10 days of the Fair. Mark your calendars for the day you plan to volunteer. Money raised from Sponsors and Supporters will help offset exhibit staffing. If we raise more than the $1500 we need, we will use the money for more educational and training workshops. A form with shift hours and Sponsor/Supporter information will be going out in the near future. Look for it in your email. Any ANA members without email will receive the form in the mail. |
| NC ANA List Serve |
The NC ANA list serve is available for your use. If you want to send a flier announcing an event at your farm or winery, or if you want to ask a question of the over 250 members of ANA, the list serve may be the answer to a wide broadcast. Simply type in ncana.members@lists.ncmail.net and send your flier or ask your question or send timely information in which our members may have interest. Be mindful that some members are on dial-up modems and cannot download attachments easily or at all. However, it can be very useful for finding answers to questions or sharing information. |
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