Sustaining Production and Strengthening the Agritourism Product : Linkages Among Michigan Agritourism Destinations

This study explores small farmers’ reliance on agritourism as a means of retaining land in production in spite of the challenges posed by agricultural restructuring. Michigan farms, which average 215 acres, are affected by such production challenges as declining prices for agricultural commodities, a need to adopt capital-intensive technologies via intensive production on large-scale farms in order to be economically competitive, and a resulting cost-price squeeze. Although agritourism promises to diversify agricultural-based economies in the Midwest, educate urban populations about food production, and support the production of distinctive regional agricultural products, marketing-related barriers, most of which are rooted in farmers' commodity production orientations and in the problematic transition to selling differentiated attractions and experiences, have prevented agritourism from fully developing. A 2002 project involving focus groups composed of agritourism producers suggests that successful, entrepreneurial agritourism developers can work cooperatively rather than individually and competitively. These operators have developed supportive, informational, and purchasing linkages to sustain Michigan’s agritourism industry. Brochures and web linkages with state and local tourism promotion organizations make up these producer networks, as do referrals to other agritourism producers and cooperative attempts to strengthen territorially based agritourism. (SAA)