Blossom trails can entice visitors to enjoy rural orchards, anticipate the fruits and nuts to come, stop at springtime attractions and perhaps stay overnight in the community. Farm Advisor Maxwell Norton has been creating drive-by tours for visitors in Merced County for many years, and offers some advice.

Know the trees! An almond blossom or apple blossom tour is pretty straightforward, as all the blossoms are pretty and will blossom at a similar time, says Norton. Peaches, however, have two major types of blossoms; the showy type are blazing pink, but the non-showy kind are tiny red blossoms. You may have to drive around during peach blossom time to lay out the tour for the next year in order to show off the brightest blooms.

Create a trail with a logical beginning and ending that someone from out of town can find. The path can be circular, but it doesn't have to be. It can start at a freeway overpass and end up in a town where visitors might find food or gas. The main point is to start and end where visitors will know where they are.

Be sure to include and go past other attractions, museums, farm stands, scenic areas, rivers, lakes, county parks and other places of interest. Point out picnic areas and restrooms on the route.

Don't let people get lost. Avoid planning the route through the middle of a good-sized town, even if it ends up in town.

The route should not take longer than three hours to complete.

Avoid left-hand turns onto or off busy two-lane highways.

Remind people not to trespass in the orchards, and to take their pictures from the road.

Post simple maps of the routes on your website, and also post turn-by-turn directions for each route. You may, as in Merced, have several maps for the different crops that blossom at different times. Clearly identify the range of dates for the expected blooms, but also give a phone number for visitors to verify the blossom time. The local chamber of commerce or Farm Bureau may be willing to list their phone number for this purpose.

Sometimes a local visitors center or chamber of commerce will print and distribute the maps. Be sure to check with them early and have the route ready with enough time for them to print and promote the beauty of your local orchards.

 

Sam Minturn, Executive Director of the 350-member California Christmas Tree Association, sees plenty of room for more small-acreage growers of choose-and-cut Christmas trees in California. About 55 percent of the Monterey Pines sold in California are grown in the state at elevations below 1,500 feet, often on smaller lots. Monterey Pines take typically three to five years to reach a size large enough for most customers, whereas the true firs, grown mostly on large plantations in Oregon and Washington and cut for sale at retail lots, take 10 to 15 years to grow to marketable size, says Minturn. Many association members in lower elevations also grow cedar and redwood trees, while those higher up grow varieties of fir and pine.

 

Although very few of the association members work full-time growing trees, it is a 12-months-a-year job. Sales are full-time for three weeks in December. January and February are planting time. The majority of the work is in the summer, with Monterey Pines requiring at least two shearings a year. Growers are always fighting weeds and bugs, and most in the valley need to irrigate. Because the cost of water varies throughout the state, growers in Southern California charge higher prices for their trees than northern growers.

The California Christmas Tree Association is the second oldest such association in the country, started in the 1950s by growers around Santa Cruz who started growing trees on plantations rather than cutting them from the forests. In the 1970s, the association began including retail sellers, wholesalers, suppliers and nurseries.

Regular membership costs $121, with lower fees for first-year members. The association holds three meetings and a farm tour each year. It also has a tradeshow, lists members on a website, and shares quarterly bulletins and information regarding production, marketing and pricing with members.

In addition, the association partners with UC Davis researchers to find solutions to pests and diseases like the gall rust affecting Monterey Pines in California. Other activities include fighting for market share being lost to artificial tree sales by marketing the environmental benefits of real Christmas trees. The National Christmas Tree Association is investigating the possibility of a national marketing order for the industry in order to promote purchases of real trees over artificial.

This week, you can help the association give Christmas trees to men and women serving in the armed forces by contributing to Trees for Troops.

 

Traditional farm commercial liability programs usually exclude coverage for educational and recreational activities undertaken for compensation, but the new Agribusiness Commercial General Liability (AgGL) program covers B&Bs, mazes, tours, hunting and fishing, farm parks, and other activities offered by agritourism operators.

AAIS Vice President Debi Summerlin explains that the new program gives the insurance company tools to be able to charge premiums for these activities by providing ratings for many classifications of tourist activities. Most exposures to risk for agritourism activities are rated based on receipts earned, so an operator can pay a lower premium when starting small.

If you are interested in this new program, ask your current insurance agent to investigate how AgGL might work for your business. Your agent might need to contact AAIS to find a company carrying this product.

Two Profitable Niche Farming workshops, sponsored by the UC Small Farm Program and local UC Cooperative Extension offices, will focus on specialty crops for the North Coast region. These are not agritourism workshops, but some of you may be interested in the possibilities. The workshops will be held:

In Eureka: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m., Dec. 15 at Humboldt County Agriculture Center, 5630 S. Broadway.

In Ukiah: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Dec. 16 at Hampton Inn Ukiah, 1160 Airport Park Blvd.

These regional workshops will focus on specialty crops and strategies that local, small-scale farmers can use to select new enterprises and increase their likelihood for success. Presentations will focus on specialty crops, including orchard planning and management, season extension strategies, small-scale mushroom production, and blueberry production.

Registration is $10 and includes lunch and materials. On-site registration may be available, but lunch and materials are not guaranteed. For more information, Eureka: (707) 445-7351, Ukiah: (707) 263-6838.

 

The California Travel & Tourism Commission has released a report that predicts an increase in both domestic and international tourists visiting California over the next five years as the world economy recovers.

 

2009 was a hard year all round for most traveler-serving businesses, but the worst seems to be over. The report predicts 2010 will see positive growth in both domestic and international travel, with peak growth coming in 2011. Global economic recovery and a weaker dollar will aid the rebound in international travel, with increasing numbers of travelers to California coming from China and India.

For ideas about how to attract some of these visitors to your farm or ranch, contact your local city or county visitors bureau or staff at your closest California Welcome Center.

The travel outlook report comes from the California Travel & Tourism Commission's tourism industry website that provides a vast store of research and promotion resources. You can even list your own favorite five California travel stops on the Visit California website. Check out a few and then Create Your Five.

 

 

The North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association, which is a 25-year-old networking association for farm direct marketing and agritourism, is holding its annual convention from February 5 - 12, 2010 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.