Trinitas agritourism golf at odds with Calaveras County

Michael and Michelle Nemee own the Trintas Golf course, in Valley Springs, California – the course built in “stealth mode”, and at the centre of a conflict with Calaveras County Planning Commission’s zoning bylaws, reports Dana Nichols, staff writer with RecordNet.com. Trintas also has a Nature & Wildlife Preserve, and an Olive Oil & Orchard Tour.
Though County rejected an application to rezone, the owners vow to keep the course in operation."We are going to continue operating our lawful agritourism operation that we've been taxed on since 2005 by the county of Calaveras," Nemee said, reports Nichols.
Issues in this dispute involve: Trinitas, Calaveras County, a group called “Keep It Rural”, the “Williamson Act”, the California Department of Conservation, and the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Centre.

Strict standards help double agritourism growth in northern Italy

The South Tyrol Region in northern Italy saw its agritourism ventures explode in the last five years, with 223% increase in visitor arrivals and 207% increase in visitor nights between 1999-2007 according to Australian Pauline Porcaro, reports Rod Brown.

In a podcast on ABC radio's Bush Telegraph. Porcaro attributes success to a strict Red Rooster (Gallo Rosso) accreditation and branding program. Top ranked operators are not to give up farming. Tourism must be complementary to farming. Farms are to adhere to rules on accommodation size, must provide natural fibre furnishings, etc . Government involvement is heavy with help in training, marketing, business planning and funding. Porcaro emphasises that government support is crucial to the success of agritourism in the region.

Farms, for example, offer wine to visitors, teach urban schoolchildren about farming, have an adopt-a-farm animal program where you get updated photos sent to you. The goal is to increase farm-gate sales.

Porcaro said agritourism farmers in Australia need to look at Italy, considered as world leaders in this business.

10-year agritourism farm celebrates its diversity and innovation.

The 100 acre Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, near Albany New York State, attracts 40,000 people each year to its agri-tourism business by diversifying, entertaining, experimenting, and adopting new technologies, according to Larry Rulison, business writer with Times Union. Rulison reports that the average visitor stay is four hours and average expenditure is over US$13.00 per person.

After 10 years in operation, Liberty Ridge Farm now grows berries, corn, pumpkin and squash, have expanded to U-pick and plan to grow apples.

Their Fall Festival hosts a 12-acre corn maze, pig races, a Halloween "Field of Screams" and "Forest of Fear. The Farm's "Camp Celebration" with its campfire and large pavilion, takes in small groups for birthday parties, weddings, church groups, scouts, club or corporate picnics. Owners Robert and Cynthia Gifford pride themselves on providing great value for a day of local family fun. They believe in the "wow" factor.

Each year they try to upgrade and introduce something new. For the 2009 season, they have "Miss Moo’s Musical Revue" and "CornTEXTS". The Revue is an animatronics animal band that sings and tells jokes. With CornTEXTS you text message while in the corn maze to get navigational clues while inside the maze and get maze-themed historical information. They maintain texting contact with customers, after their visit, to report weather and farm activities. Rulison reports that the owners "spent $1,500 on a new software program called Book-It that allows teachers to book field trips through the farm's Web site. Cynthia Gifford says it's making a difference because school teachers previously called the farm and often had to leave messages because the staff was busy doing chores." IT manager Suzanne Cardinal, claims this software which was geared to agritourism will simplify operations.

When I visited the Liberty Ridge Farm website I was impressed with the supporters of this agritourism venture -- including sponsors, media partners and link associates. Check out, Spookly for example.

Agritourism is on the rise in New York State, according to Peter Gregg, a spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau, a farm lobbying group, since it helps farms boost their bottom line, writes Rulison.

Is Swanky Ants a killer tourism mAp?

Going on a trip? Check out Swanky Ants.

Here is an interactive map that I think is dynamite. If you want to know what’s going on in your area this is one cool map.

Pins on the map are colour-coded into one of several categories: kids, night life, markets, educational, sports and recreation, community events, and arts & entertainment. Zoom in on the map and you get a calendar listing of events on a panel to the right. The panel lists event name and dates. Click on a pin and you get a pop-out balloon outlining the event with an option to get more details. I clicked on Kelowna, British Columbia, and discovered a Rock Climbing Exhibition at the Okanagan Heritage Museum between 21May-19December, 2009. A really cool feature is the time slider at the top. This slider allows you to bracket dates in which you are interested. The events panel is refreshed.

Want to promote your event? Easy! You can enter details into a friendly form and help build a really useful community-based events map and calendar. It’s the type of platform that I think tourism departments should tap into and adopt.

I anticipate Swanky Ants to grow in popularity as word spreads. If this is the BETA version of the product I am impressed.

My two suggested improvements include:
Colour-code the events shown on the events calendar panel (text or graphic) so that the pin on the map can be better linked to the events listed to the right.

Have a small SwankyAnts logo that can be shared and placed on your own website, to show you are a member of the Army of SwankyAnts.

Swanky Ants provides the platform to create a truly community-based product that has tremendous value. A lot of thinking has gone into this product. It has potential for tremendous growth into other map-based products (hospitals, police stations, information booths, eating places, churches, video, audio etc.) and in licensing/franchising the system to other geographic countries/regions. I also see huge potential for geographically/event-targeted advertising, aside from Google Ads.

Go make a land grab and post your event on this great platform.

Swanky Ants is owned and operated by Swanky Ants Enterprises Ltd. out of Victoria, British Columbia and can be reached at info[at]swankyants.com.

Diversity is key to rural tourism in Punjab, India

Tribune Photo taken by Kulbir Beera

Gurcharan Singh Mann is an exceptional, quality farmer in Tungwali village, Bathinda District, Punjabi region of India. His farm has been selected under the Punjab Rural Tourism Plan, because of its diversified farming and related ventures, reports Chandigarh Tribune of India and the Global Sikh News.

Mann believes that diversification is lucrative and is key to attracting visitors and business partners. Aside from, or instead of, cotton and paddy, he's into fish, honey, orchards (banana, jamun, amla, ber, guava, pomegranate, apples, aloe vera), mixed timber and other crops (including turmeric and red chilly for Agmark), bio-gas, mushrooms. He has converted over 40 acres of former sand dunes into a destination spot.

Punjab Agricultural University awarded Mann the Parvasi Bharti Award in 2005 for diversification. Mann believes one needs to adapt and to adopt.

San Pedro, Uruguay, transforms into Agritourist destination

The entire small farming town of San Pedro, near the city of Colonia del Sacramento (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in western Uruguay, has transformed itself and turned to Agro-ecoTourism as a new source of livelihood, reports Luis Alberto Carro with IPS News.

This was once an area of prosperous dairy farms and small-scale agriculture. It fell onto hard times after the country's severe financial crisis in 2002 and in neighbouring Argentina a year earlier. Residents of San Pedro decided to fight their misfortune. They created the Rural Tourism Group (Grutur), made up of members such as "Vivero Yatay - a nursery and park of native plants - the Parque Brisas del Plata campground, the 'Los Tres Botones' farm, where visitors can have a ride on a horse or in a cart and eat typical rural meals out under the blue sky, and the Tourn Museum, which includes antique tools and farm machinery manufactured by the Tourns, a family of Italian immigrants." Many took courses in English, computers, basket-weaving and herb-growing, and also from doctors and psychologists. Further they have trademarked local products under "Las Sanpedrinas".

Also linked to the group are operators of dairy farms that grow organic produce, horseback riding, cabin rentals in the countryside and museums. Grutur holds rural fairs or festivals to showcase attractions and products.

Uruguay's tourism industry is a billion dollar a year industry, according to Carro. It provides "50,000 direct jobs and more than 120,000 indirect jobs, based on an economically sustainable model that is respectful of the environment and local culture. Tourism attracts mostly Urugaynans and Argentinians. About 10% of visitors are from outside these countries.

"Eighty Rural Tourist destinations are registered with Uruguay's Tourism Ministry. Also part of Rural Tourism destinations in Urugauay are wineries, guest ranches, rural bed-and-breakfasts, and even an old quarry. The Ministry is preparing a tourism development plan for 2009-2020 that will include the country's 19 provinces and Rural Tourism -- designed to benefit local residents.

Agri-tourism reality bus tour in North Carolina

Why does Rowan County in Salisbury, North Carolina, draw so many visitors each year, asks SalisburyPost.com?

The Rowan County Chamber of Commerce gave a bus tour to about 30 local officials to learn why -- to see agri-tourism sites in action. They visited William Yost's Cauble Creek Vineyard, the Lazy 5 Ranch, and Michelle and Doug Patterson's Produce Farm. They learned about agri-tourism's impact on the local economy, providing 1,500 county jobs, and the role in North Carolina's tourism draw. The sites visited rank highly on field trip destinations within the state, drawing thousands and boosting the local economy.

Local elected officials, representatives from North Carolina Cooperative Extension, members of the Rowan Chamber of Commerce and the Rowan County Tourism Development Authority were part of the bus tour.

According to Yost, agri-tourism thinking should be longer term -- not short term -- just like his vineyards.

Agritourism and Nature Tourism in California publication

The University of California Small Farm Program lists resources available to those who wish to start an agritourism operation. One of its publications is the 160-page 2005-title "Agritourism and Nature Tourism in California". This is a workbook for farmers and ranchers. It was the culmination of a brainstorming session held between farmers, ranchers, university researchers, tourism officials and community support groups.
Topics include:

• Evaluating resources for tourism
• Creating a business plan
• Examining legal constraints
• Risk management
• Developing a marketing plan
• Farm visits for children
• Planning a tourism workshop
• Resources

Agritourists worth US$2.4 million to California farmers

Agritourists brought in around US$2.4 million to farmers in California in 2008, according to a first statewide survey on agritourism operators, as reported in Small Farm News, The Daily Democrat and the University of California Small Farm Program. Further, "small farms made up 2/3rds of the farms reported offering agritourism." Agritourism was generally profitable and offered farmers a supplementary income. A California AgriTourism database allows farmers and ranchers to add details of their agritourism operation, for public access.

Follow the Quilt Trail in Northeast Tennessee

Six counties in Northeast Tennessee, including Greene, Carter, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington Counties have joined together to create the "Quilt Trail" reports the Greenville Sun. The Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council's Quilt Trail is shown inside a colourful brochure on a map. Along the trail are barns and other structures with replicas of large quilts. The brochure shows photos of each quilt square and, for the more "technologically-savvy tourist, the brochure includes Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for the quilt locations."

In interviews with the coordinator of the Appalachian RC&D and Director of Tourism for the Green County Partnership, the Greenville Sun reports that "the Quilt Trail helps tourists enjoy country scenery while protecting family farms by boosting agri-tourism" and ""With the increasing popularity of outdoor recreation and agri-tourism, the Quilt Trail is but another tool that tourism can use to promote our area as a vacation destination as well as promote agri-tourism businesses.

Mission of The Rural Tourist.

The emphasis of this blog is to explore rural tourism through the eyes of all stakeholders within the rural environment: communities and residents, destination areas, tourists, visitors and guests, tourism operators, event planners, tourism and economic development groups and organizations, technical and engineering developers, media and the creative/knowledge community. Did I leave anyone out?

My goal is to celebrate success stories, exchange ideas and share concerns, and network to grow a healthy tourism industry in rural areas.