There is a new word in farming these days: agritourism. Actually, agritourism has always been around as an inevitable byproduct of farming. Harvest festivals, country craft fairs, cheese festivals, wine tasting, petting zoos, visits to horse, cattle, lama, goat and fish farms have aways excited and fascinated both children and adults alike. Vineyards, beekeeping, maple sugar production and water gardens have interested and delighted us for hundreds of years. Yet, never before has there been such a push to make money from these agri-related products and activities.
The key word here is money. The cost for farm equipment such as tractors, hay rakes, round balers and bush hogs has almost doubled in the past ten years. Many farming supplies and fencing supplies as well as chemicals, fertilizer and fuel have more than doubled. Yet, despite the increase in price for equipment and supplies, the profits from grain crops, dairy, hogs, cattle and poultry have not increased significantly in that same time period.
Farmers have a joke. In 1968, it took the profit of ten calves to buy a new truck; presently it takes the profit of ten calves to buy a 1986 truck. In this revenue constricting scenario, which has everyone in the agriculture field desperately searching for ways to control cost while increasing cost-effectiveness, production and yield, it is little wonder the farmer has turned to agritourism. In fact, the major players in the agri fields, such as Farm Bureau, extol the wisdom of replacing or supplementing traditional farming by incorporating agritourism into a farm plan.
Our neighbor has taken this advice to heart and now he routinely mowes a corn maze in his corn crop with the corn attached. When questioned about this practice, he shrugged and gave the answer that he makes more money selling tickets to the maze than he ever did selling the corn. Another neighbor now sells his corn as decorative corn shocks; again, he makes more money. Indian corn, pumpkins, squash and gourds have long been raised for sale as decorations. U-pick-it farms have sprouted everywhere including strawberries, pumpkin, raspberries, blueberries,flowers and herbs as well as the whole range of fruit trees. Farm agri-related activities are offered routinely at many agrifarms: crafts, pig races, pony rides, mazes, fishing, hayrides, petting farms. Education stations are available on cheese making, compose education, equine grooming, dog grooming, chickens, cows, pigs, donkeys, orchards, fish, turkeys, you get the picture. Many farmers have turned their farms into bed-and-breakfast enterprises or dude ranches. Others now cater to hunters, fishers, or have developed trails for hikers, trail riding or ATV sport.
All this leaves me pondering. With all this agriproducts and agriactivities, who's growing the real food? Many farmers have been squeezed out of business and more will follow; other farms have been broken down into smaller units for development; farms have been confiscated by the power of eminent domain, and now with increased focus on agritourism, the emphasis is less on farming and more on the use of farm connected products and activities to earn a living. The long and short of this state of affairs is that a farmer can no longer make enough money through farming to farm. Soon farming may become a byproduct of agritourism.
We Americans need to wake up and pay attention to where our food is coming from. It may be that shortly our orange juice is not from Florida anymore and corn may be raised predominately for biodiesels rather than cereal. Having the bulk of our food imported in today's unstable world situation would be dangerous, expensive and could leave America exposed to world exploitation.
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