Spade & Spoon: Localizing the Way Westerners Eat
Agritourism May Be Growing, But Is It Sustainable?
By Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel, 10-16-07
 |
|
 |
|
| The Turtleback Farm Inn - Orcas Island | |
|
The Rocky Mountain West’s tourism industry is worth billions of dollars. In 2006, Montana raked in $3 billion from non-resident vacationers, Wyoming $2 billion and Utah $5 billion. An increasing number of these visitors are leaving behind their jobs and worries for a few days not only to fish blue ribbon streams or ski the perfect powder. They are coming west to don a pair of spurs, rustle some livestock and sleep in a farmhouse on working farms and ranches.
From 2000 to 2001, 62 million adults visited farms and ranches across America according to the United States Department of Agriculture. This agricultural tourism, better known as agritourism, includes farm tours, you-pick operations or country stores as well as farms that provide accommodations. Agritourism has become popular for some producers as well because it can provide a new source of income for farms and ranches and in some cases encourage visitors to take part in the farm work. But most often, visitors come to enjoy the serenity of the rural landscape and the idyllic view of the farm and ranch. From New Mexico’s El Rancho Nido de las Golondrinas to Brush Creek Ranch in Wyoming, places of work are becoming places of play and respite.