Happy harvesting!

Although much of California enjoys year-round harvest seasons, many urban and suburban people still seem to think most about visiting farms and ranches in the fall. We see a huge increase in visits every October to our online directory of California agritourism, CalAgTour.org, as your potential customers search for corn mazes, pumpkin patches, grape stomps, U-pick farms, harvest festivals and other autumn fun. We hope you are harvesting your share of these visitors.

Later, when you have time to breath, please consider joining agritourism leaders from around the state for our statewide agritourism summit. Together perhaps we can chart a course to building a stronger support network for California's innovative enterprises and organizations.

If you are a farmer or rancher considering agritourism, starting a new venture or expanding with new activities, check out our upcoming three-session agritourism planning classes, offered in both Fresno and Glenn Counties. Or, particularly if you are involved in developing agritourism in your community, you might be interested in the online class. Read more in this newsletter about these and other educational opportunities.

Also in this issue is news about the California Agricultural Almanac, a new campaign to loosen some food processing regulations, and scholarships for the 2012 California Small Farm Conference. We'll be offering both an agritourism tour and an agritourism workshop at the Small Farm Conference, and hope to see many of you there next March.

Thanks for doing what you do. Please stay in touch.

Sincerely,
Penny Leff, UC Small Farm Program agritourism coordinator

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