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Description:
This presentation examines a four-year case study of Agritourism
enterprises and educational outreach to both producers and consumers
in Southwestern Virginia. Featured will be start-up operations as
well as conversions from traditional dairy farming operations that
credit Agritourism with allowing them to continue their dairy and
orchard operation. Successes, failures, past surprises, and future
challenges will be discussed in a common sense, practical approach.
Included will be an example of community partnering that resulted
in an Agritourism attraction netting over $165/hour in income over
15 weekend days of October 2003. Andy Overbay is the Area Dairy
Science Agent for Southwestern Virginia, and he is also a PhD candidate
at VA Tech in Career and Technical Education. A recognized corn
maze "weed eater" expert, Mr. Overbay has published a how-to guide
to corn maze design, planning and implementation that has been translated
into five languages and distributed throughout North America, Mexico,
South America, Western Europe, and Japan. Mr. Overbay has also serves
as editor of Mountain Vistas, an Agri/Ecotourism Quarterly Newsletter
distributed throughout Virginia and surrounding states.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will learn to evaluate
opportunities for success (or failure) using experiences
and critical thinking skills.
- Participants will receive assistance
in using Agritourism for delivery of educational materials
to both producers and consumers.
- Participants will help plan
a farm site for a tourism enterprise.
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Methods:
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Map of farmstead; Evaluation:
A post-presentation survey will be used to evaluate strengths
and weaknesses of the program. Evaluations will be delivered
via a virtual corn maze visit.
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