Louisiana Agritourism: April 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Urban Farming for Kids in New Orleans

Kids' Village opening on April 26th in New Orleans will be one of the only community gardens in the city designed primarily for kids in pre-school to 5th grade. Organizers are planning many activities that include training sessions on how to plant properly and raising farm animals, learning about science including earthworm games, and more. Email: info@nolagreenroots.com Phone: 504.206.9290

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Include Earth Day Activities in Farm Tours

Earth Day will be celebrated April 22nd this year. Take advantage of this special day by teaching environmental responsibility to farm visitors. Provide each of your farm guests with a peat pot, soil and some seed. Share with them the joy of planting. Encourage them to start a compost pile at home. Teach water conservation. No matter where you live today; water is a concern. Teaching that farms access surface water when possible for their animals and crops shows that farmers are practicing good stewardship. It's Earth Day, celebrate!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Starting a Farmers Market--What You Need to Know

Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service has a great guide entitled, Establishing and Operating a Farmers Market, to help you start your market and sustain the market. This complete guide provides you with a month by month timetable.

If you are just starting your market this is an excellent reference and if you have an existing market you might want to read this publication and see if you can enhance your operation using their tips.

Monday, April 2, 2012

The Agritourism Connection Quarterly Newsletter Now Available Online

The latest Louisiana Agritourism Connection newsletter for April, 2012 is now available at the link below:

Click here to read a copy of the April, 2012 edition of “The Agritourism Connection,” a quarterly e-newsletter providing information how to start, grow or sustain your agritourism venture. Topics covered in this newsletter include: outdoor enterprise development business plan workshop announcement, how to use paddling trails for added farm income, organic gardening, choosing where to sell produce, MarketMaker, instructions on how to qualify for farmers market program in Louisiana and the 2011 Agricultural Summary. For more information on agritourism, visit our website: www.lsuagcenter.com/agritourism

Agritourism Law Limits Liability

In 2008, the Louisiana Legislature expanded the limitation of liability found in La R.S. 9:2795 et seq to include certain agritourism activities. The legislation authored by Representative Andy Anders and Senators Francis Thompson and Mike Walsworth provides that the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Foresty (LDAF) will develop a set of rules and regulations and that the LSU AgCenter will define a “plan of operation” for an agritourism venture and review those plans.

More about this law can be found on the LSU AgCenter Web site: www.lsuagcenter.com/agritourism

2012 Agriculture Census Shows Increase in Farming

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2014 –There are now 3.2 million farmers operating 2.1 million farms on 914.5 million acres of farmland across the United States, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Once every five years, farmers, ranchers and growers have the unique opportunity to let the world know how U.S. agriculture is changing, what is staying the same, what’s working and what we can do differently,” said Dr. Cynthia Clark, the retiring head of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which administered the survey.

Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
Principal operators were on average 58.3 years old and were predominantly male; second operators were slightly younger and most likely to be female; and third operators were younger still.
In Louisiana agritourism grew from 170 farms in 2007 to 361 farms in 2012.
In Louisiana onfarm agritourism sales jumped from $2,486 to $8,996 in 2012.
In Louisiana the definition of agritourism is broader than the definition in the census; meaning that numbers are greater.