LITTLE ROCK — Karen Bradford and her husband, Robert, had been growing soybeans and raising cattle on their farm in Roland for about 15 years, but were tired of dealing with the whims of the weather and the Chicago futures market.
Their land was ill-suited for irrigation, so a sudden heat wave would destroy their soybean crop.
One year they would make $30,000, the next they might lose $15,000. They had second jobs to support their growing family - she found work as a hairdresser, he excavated construction sites.
“Even when the market was good, we were flipping houses, anything to make more money,” she said. “You just had enough to keep hanging on.”
They stopped leasing 400 acres three years ago, bought 200 acres, and started focusing on staples of the roadside pumpkin patch: hayrides, scarecrows and a hay pyramid. They still have their second jobs but their success has persuaded them to slowly expand their farm’s offerings.
Next month they’ll open a corn maze and next year expect to grow and sell tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables. They hope to eventually work on the farm full time.
Pumpkin patches, you pick orchards, and on-the farm produce stalls have been around for a longtime.
In the past decade the number of such operations has fallen, but for those who stick with it, the undertaking is becoming more profitable.
Arkansas farms involved in agritourism fell by almost half - 478 to 268 - from 2002 to 2007, the year of the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture survey. But the reported sales rose from $3.1 million to $4.1 million, almost tripling average agritourism farm sales to more than $15,000.
Nationwide, the number of farms involved in agritourism fell from 28,016 to 23,350 during the same period, but sales doubled from $202 million to $566 million.
The latest survey from the University of Arkansas shows that 264 farms reported sales of more than $7 million in 2009.
“In the past, this has been a hobby, or something for a spouse to do,” said Jeff Miller, a professor of agricultural communications at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “Now, there are more people that want to run their agritourism efforts as a full business.”
The decline in agritourism operations as individual profits rise suggest some farmers are getting serious about the industry as more casual operations close up shop, Miller said.
The $7 million figure is still only 1 percent of Arkansas’ tourism industry - which also includes renting out land for hunting - and economists and state officials say there is plenty of room for growth. If agritourism thrives, they say, it can mean millions more in revenues for farmers, who usually sell their products to wholesalers for about 20 percent of their retail value.
“There is an increasing desire to purchase foods locally,” said Dan Rainey, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “Even though this is called tourism, we’re not trying to bring someone from New York to Arkansas. It’s about getting someone in Fayetteville to go half an hour down the road instead of the local Wal-Mart to get something that was imported from Florida or California.”
Unlike other states, Arkansas does not have a budget specifically for agritourism, but advocates are still trying to promote it. The Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Agriculture Department, and the University of Arkansas, among others, formed the Arkansas Agritourism Initiative, which hosted the first statewide conference on agritourism Thursday andFriday in Little Rock.
The conference featured workshops for farmers on increasing their marketing, attracting school groups, and some of the legal pitfalls of agritourism. To clear some of those legal tangles, the Legislature passed two bills this year making it easier to sell at farmers markets and limiting the legal liability of farms involved in agritourism.
The Arkansas Agritourism Initiative also released a brochure for the state’s welcome centers this week, detailing more than 100 agritourism destinations.
“One of the most popular questions we get at the welcome centers is, ‘What is that crop I just saw?’” said Donna Perrin, Tourism Development Manager with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. “They want to know what they’re seeing, when harvest time is. Agritourism isn’t new, but we’re seeing a stronger demand for it now.”
But jumping into agritourism isn’t for everyone. For small-scale farmers used to the privacy of their land and solitary work, moving into agritourism just to make more money might backfire.
“Only a certain type of person is amenable to this,” said Ellen Dalton, owner of Pumpkin Hollow in Piggott, a pumpkin patch with a petting zoo and haunted houses. “Most row crop farmers don’t want people coming in to fool around with what they’re doing. I can’t imagine anyone having this kind of enterprise if you’re just going into it for the money.”
In fact, Miller and Rainey’s research shows that nearly 40 percent of Arkansas farmers in agritourism view educating the public or interacting with the public as the main reason they moved into the business.
Doug and Susan Jones operate Garner Homestead Family Farms in Hot Springs on the same land that has been in Susan’s family for 150 years. The farm hasn’t made any money since it was retooled as an agritourism destination three years ago, said Doug (who still works full time as a minister) but that’s less important to the Joneses than fostering an appreciation for agriculture in school groups.
“We want to make kids realize how fun that can be, to plant a seed in the ground and, through love and care, see it grow,” Susan said. “If we can get them excited about farming as a kid, we may produce future farmers.”
Bradford, of BoBrook farms in Roland, also said she enjoys teaching school groups about agriculture, but one of the biggest advantages to agritourism is the constant market. The first year she started, her pumpkin patch completely flooded, and Bradford thought her crop might be ruined for the year.
“Our pumpkins were literally floating,” she said. “But people still wanted to pay and see a pumpkin float. All my eggs aren’t all in the exact same basket.”
Business, Pages 61 on 08/21/2011