Louisiana Agritourism

Monday, October 15, 2012

USE AGRITOURISM WEB GUIDE TO COMPLETE YOUR PLAN OF OPERATION

The new interactive Web guide, www.safeagritourism.com, can help you complete the Louisiana Plan of Operation if you are applying for certification under the Limited Liabilty Agritourism Law passed in 2008.

This guide provides virtual walk-throughs that include corn maze safety, hay-ride safety, machine safety, and walk-ways, surfaces and structures. The walk-throughs identify health and safety hazards that can be termed risks according to Louisiana law; using this tool you can show how you would mitigate that risk on your plan of operation.

The walk-throughs and suggestions for risk mitigation are based on “Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children,” available at www.marshfieldclinic.org/agritourism. The guidelines originally were published in 2007 by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, part of the National Farm Medicine Center at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wis.

For more information on agritourism in Louisiana, visit our website: www.lsuagcenter.com/agritourism

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.