- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...