Agritourism: not just for Italy anymore

The NYT gets its hands dirty

Posted by Tom Philpott at 10:31 AM on 26 Nov 2007

Read more about: travel | agriculture | shameless self-promotion

In Italy and France, people don't love small farms just for the delicious food they produce. They also prize them for their looks -- small-scale diversified agriculture is pleasing to the senses. So city dwellers often head out to the country on the weekend and hang out on farms, and support them with their tourist dollars.

Last week, Emily Biuso of The New York Times ran a good piece about how agritourism is slowly catching on in the United States. I direct you to it because it's an interesting read, not just because Emily stayed on my own Maverick Farms while reporting the piece -- and worked really hard, too.

For story: Agritourism: not just for Italy anymore
4 Comments | Post a Comment

Hm ...

I find this self-promotion insufficiently shameless.

The whole piece is about Tom's farm, y'all!

Kick ass. Congrats, Tom.

grist.org

by David Roberts at 10:34 AM on 26 Nov 2007

Valle Crucis?

A Catholic monastic context?

It would be nice to see what the farmhouse at Maverick Farms looks like. After all, the charm of Italian and French vernacular architecture is a large part of what makes agriturismo work. The English word "villa," borrowed from Latin by way perhaps of Italian, now usually means an elegant country home, especially one of Mediterranean style; but its original Latin meaning was pretty much "farmhouse." The written description of the Maverick Farms farmhouse sounds lovely enough, but a photo or two would be very helpful.

To say nothing of photos of the chickens!

Also, the possibility of observing wildlife, and trees and other plants, should be part of the experience, one would think. Are guests encouraged to explore?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:03 PM on 26 Nov 2007

WWOOF

Such opportunities for Agritourism also exist in the UK and elsewhere with WWOOF (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). I think I will volunteer with them very soon.

by nicosauvage at 8:01 AM on 27 Nov 2007

wisconsin state supports agritourism

The most recent Wisconsin State budget included funding for "buy local, buy wisconsin", a major component of this bill was funding to support agritourism throughout the state. While I'm thrilled that we're supporting small farms, I wonder how sustainable agritourism can be in our area. There's a big difference between corn mazes (in genetically modified corn being grown for fuel) and an ancient olive orchard. What does agritourism mean to you?

by dumpsterfuel at 5:33 PM on 12 Dec 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

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