Louisiana Agritourism: Facebook Helps Swedish Group Find McKowen Farm

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Facebook Helps Swedish Group Find McKowen Farm

In a recent post, I shared that Amelia Kent and a group of Swedish youth were touring America. Quite by accident Keller McKowen, husband of Roberta McKowen, met them while they were at the Richland Tractor Equipment store. Keller invited them to the farm and later learned that they had been following their farm's Herding Facebook page and Louisiana Ranchers and Growers Association's page.

The McKowen farm is in lambing season so that came to see.

These young Swedish women are touring the world examining Ag practices because they will take over their family businesses one day.

Roberta showed them fiber arts, cheese making and no till agriculture .

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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.