Louisiana Agritourism: June 2016

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR TEDDY’S BEARFEST ’16

Gather your family and friends and come on out to help celebrate the 10^th anniversary of Teddy’s Bearfest’16: A Historical Celebration, commemorating President Theodore Roosevelt’s successful bear hunt expedition in Madison Parish.

The festival is free, starting at 9:00 a.m. with a parade featuring the Madison High School Marching Band. All genres of music will be showcased for the entire family to enjoy, along with lots of food, arts, crafts and children's activities as well as educational and informational exhibits highlighting, live animal and artifacts from the Tensas Wildlife Refuge and Poverty Point.

Date: October 8, 2016

Time: 9:00am-7:00pm

Where: Courthouse Square, downtown Tallulah

Cost: Free

Contact: Tina Johnson

Madison Parish Tourism Commission

1-888-744-8410

mptourism@att.net

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Sunflower Trail & Festival

Mark your calendars for June 18th and travel To Gilliam, LA.The event is open 9am to 3pm. For more information about the festival click here.

I went several years ago and enjoyed making pictures of family members surrounded by sunflowers.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Louisiana Ranch Dog Association

Monday, June 6, 2016

Storybook Image vs Modern Farm Image

We know that children of today read about farming from their storybooks, but do they understand that every farm will not have a "red barn?" For those farmers who are new generation farmers, the farm maybe a metal building.

This was one of the questions raised in GETTING STARTED IN AGRITOURISM By Jim Ochterski and Monika Roth of Cornell Cooperative Extension. Take a look at this article by clicking here.

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.