California Agritourism News January 2017
from the University of California Small Farm Program
|
Happy rain! I hope you all are surviving California storms in good shape.
Thanks for opening the newsletter. In this issue:
- Four regional agritourism summits - please register now
- Webinar summaries now online for easy reading
- Farm stay stories from experienced farm stay operators
- CalagTour.org directory and calendar promotion
- Useful resources
Warm regards to everyone involved in California agritourism. Please stay in touch.
Penny Leff, UC Small Farm Program Agritourism Coordinator
|
Coming up soon: Four Regional Agritourism Summits
For agritourism operators, tourism professionals, county, city and state staff and officials, community organizations, agricultural organizations, tour organizers and everyone else involved in California agritourism.
Please join your regional agritourism community for a day of sharing, learning and planning together at the Regional Agritourism Summit in your region. The summits are hosted by the UC Small Farm Program, UC Cooperative Extension advisors and collaborating partners. Each summit will be a participatory all-day session with lunch provided.
Registration is
now open:
ucanr.edu/summits2017
-
-
Sonoma/Marin Agritourism Summit:
Thursday February 16, 2017
- Stanislaus/San Joaquin/Merced Agritourism Summit:
Thursday March 23, 2017
Stanislaus Co. Agricultural Center, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto
Register here (registration fee $25 - pay online or mail a check)
- Riverside/San Bernardino/San Diego Agritourism Summit
Wednesday March 29, 2017
La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Pkwy, Riverside
Register here (registration fee $25 - pay online or mail a check)
Each regional summit will be different & unique. Some highlights:
- County regulatory updates and discussion
- Share activity, outreach and pricing strategies
- Plan collaborative marketing
- Speed-dating with service providers (Petaluma)
- Social media marketing training (Davis, Modesto)
- Developing itineraries and bus tours (Petaluma)
For updates and featured speakers, please see:
http://ucanr.edu/summits2017
Participants are invited to bring marketing and organizational information to display and share.
Please help spread the word about the summits to your community, colleagues, neighbors, co-workers, organizations, friends and clients.
News releases, flyers and registration links are
all here.
For more information: Penny Leff, UC Small Farm Program Agritourism Coordinator, 530-752-7779,
paleff@ucdavis.edu
|
|
Webinar Summaries now online
If you're kind of like me, you might have skimmed the slides from the
"Agritourism Conversations Lunchtime Webinar"
presentations from last summer and wanted a bit more information. Then you clicked on the webinar recording, but it was too long and you had other things to do.
Now you have another option to learn from our experienced webinar speakers about agritourism strategy, social media marketing, permitting and partners. Melanie Cheng of FarmsReach, the woman who kept the webinars organized and moving smoothly, has created
Webinar Summaries for four of the webinars - in outline form full of details, questions and answers, and easy to skim to find what you're looking for quickly.
|
|
|
|
Farm Stay Stories
 |
|
|
Casa de la Pradera
|
Many small-scale farmers and ranchers are considering inviting guests for overnight stays as an additional revenue stream and to educate guests, if they're interested, about agricultural life. We talked with some experienced farm stay operators a couple of weeks ago to learn more. Each farm stay is as unique as the farm and the farm owner.
...read more
|
|
Educational Opportunity ...
-
North America Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) annual convention will be held in Mystic, Connecticut, February 3 - 9, 2017. Learn more here
|
|
|
Free listing for your agritourism activities and events
If you are a working California farmer or rancher operating an agritourism business or organizing agritourism events, we invite you to complete the
directory application
or
event listing form
online (remember to upload a picture too). You can also add
paleff@ucdavis.edu
to your email newsletter list to share your event news - we'll grab what we can for the calendar. If you're already a member, please check your listing and send us any changes (and a picture) using the
update form
. Join now - visits to the site are growing daily. IT'S ALL FREE.
- We're on Twitter promoting your California agritourism events and activities - please follow, retweet or tag us about your events and activities for visitors - @CAagritourism
- We have a new, visitor-targeted Facebook page - California Agritourism Adventures - please like us, share, and send us your news to promote on the page and in the online directory calendar.
We look forward to helping promote your business!
|
|
|
Some useful resources...
- Farm-Based Education Network - A free international member network established to strengthen and support the work of educators, farmers and community leaders providing access and experiences of all kinds on productive working farms.
-
Farm Stay U.S. -The website of the U.S. Farm Stay Association, promoting farm and ranch stays in the United States and providing resources for farm stay operators and visitors.
- Hipcamp Landshare - rural accommodations marketing site - If you are legally permitted to offer camping, cabins, or any kind of farm stay or guest ranch on your land, these San Francisco based folks may be good marketing partners.
- Harvest Hosts - a program that connects farms and wineries with RV owners. Invite Harvest Hosts' RV owners to park overnight on your property and benefit from the goodwill that motivates them to make purchases.
- AgritourismReady website - Created by Ohio State University Extension: A One Stop Shop for preparing your emergency management plan
- North American Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) - a membership based trade association dedicated to providing endless peer-to-peer learning opportunities, connections and resources, for farmers who are passionate about the business of agritourism and farm direct marketing.
|
|
Penny Leff, Agritourism Coordinator | UC Small Farm Program
530-762-7779 |
paleff@ucdavis.edu
|
|
|
