Agritourism
Agritourism is a significant and growing source of income for Colorado farmers and ranchers.
Agritourism is supported by the Colorado Tourism Office and the Colorado Agritourism Association which says it’s goal is to help producers navigate the legislative process, find solutions to insuring and zoning roadblocks, and help producers develop agritourism business models.
White: “We’re really seeing agritourism grow. Just based on the USDA Ag Census in 2012 we had 864 farms that were participating in agritourism or recreational tourism on their properties which was about 28 million dollars in farm income. In 2017 that grew to over 1,000 farms and 64 million dollars in farm income.”
That’s Wendy White with the Markets Division of the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
Colorado has the opportunity to be included in a national research project on agritourism. This survey is being used across the U.S. to better understand agritourism businesses, their needs and constraints.
Agritourism business owners are being encouraged to complete this survey by February 15.
You can find the link at Aginfo.net and the Department of Agriculture’s website.
Colorado State University will share results from the state’s businesses, and do a comparison to what is happening in other states.
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Access the survey here: http://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cN56gCeQN4QBJCB
