Thank you for being part of California agritourism. It's been a hard year for many. We wish you water, peace and joy in the coming holiday season.

Friday December 5 is the last day to apply for a scholarship for the California Small Farm Conference to be held in San Diego March 7 - 10, 2015.

Please save the date of April 8, 2015 (a Wednesday) to attend the California Statewide Agritourism Summit in Woodland. This will be a chance for everyone involved in California agritourism to learn from each other and plan for the future.

More news about the Small Farm Conference, the Statewide Summit and other projects below. Have a wonderful holiday and we hope to see you next year.

Sincerely,

Penny Leff, Agritourism Coordinator
UC Small Farm Program

Save the Date! - Statewide Agritourism Summit April 8, 2015

California farmers and ranchers host an amazing richness of enjoyment and education for the public - and the public is ready to visit California farms and ranches. But, in California, agritourism operators, organizers, planners and promoters are not well connected with each other. How can the agritourism industry best organize and work together for the success of all? Let's talk!

small group discussion Everyone involved in California agritourism is invited to a California Statewide Agritourism Summit on Wednesday April 8, 2015 in Woodland at the Heidrick Agricultural History Center. This will be a participatory all-day session with lunch provided. Please save the date. Registration will open in January.

This conference is for agritourism operators and associations; agricultural, tourism and community development professionals; county staff and officials; and others involved in California agritourism. The Summit will be a time for everyone in the California agritourism community to learn from each other and to plan for continuing statewide networking, skill-sharing, advocacy and collaborative promotional efforts. Some travel expense reimbursement will be available for specialty crop agritourism operators and for agricultural educators.

At the Summit, tourism and marketing leaders will present innovative ways to connect with the public and the tourism community, and agritourism associations will share their challenges and successes. The Summit will also feature facilitated break-out discussion sessions. In the morning we'll set up tables for discussion by areas of interest such as county planning and regulatory issues, association development and sustainability, marketing and promotional opportunities, regional tourism connections, statewide policy change potential, and statewide collaboration by regional associations. In the afternoon, we'll have regional discussion and planning sessions. Here are some notes from the 2011 Agritourism Summit.

California Small Farm Conference

San Diego, March 7 - 10, 2015 - Scholarship applications due DEC 5

Registration is now open for the California Small Farm Conference - the state's
premier gathering for small-scale farmers and ranchers, farmers' market managers, university researchers, federal and state agriculture agencies, agriculture students, food policy advocates, consumers and others. The goal of the Conference
is to promote the success and viability of small and family owned farming
operations and farmers markets through short courses, field tours and workshops.

This year's California Small Farm Conference (CSFC), featuring opening plenary speaker, A.G. Kawamura, will be held at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley in southern California on March 7 - 10, 2015.

Keep updated on all activities by liking us on Facebook and signing up for our E-Newsletter . We hope some of you will join UC Small Farm Program staff on the Agritourism Field Course or the Alternatives in Marketing Field Course.

Scholarship Applications now online
Apply by Dec. 5, 2014
scholarship recipients

The CSFC awards scholarships to small-scale farmers and ranchers, student farmer/ranchers, farmer/rancher employees and farmers market managers to attend the Conference. Scholarships are awarded based on a number of criteria including farm and household income. Scholarship awards include significantly reduced registration fees of $95 to the three-day conference, all workshops and networking sessions, conference meals, and a Sunday Field Course at a discounted rate of $25. Scholarship applications for the 2015 Conference must be completed online here. Those who have received a Conference scholarship for a previous conference are not eligible.

CSFC Local Planning Committee meeting January 2015
Attention San Diego farmers: We need your input on final conference planning and local contacts for the tasting event, exhibitors, sponsors and the silent auction! The final meeting of the Local Planning Committee will be held on Monday, January 12, 2015, at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. If you would like more information about joining the CSFC Local Planning Committee, please contact the conference coordinator, Jennifer Roth, or register here.

Silent Auction Donations needed to support scholarships
Would you like to introduce new people to your products, your business, your farm, or your agritourism operation? How about donating a gift of a night at your farm stay, wine tasting, farm dinner, cooking class spot, gift basket of your products, work of art, consultation, farm tour or free admission to your next event, or any other enjoyable or useful item or service, for the CSFC silent auction? Do you know other businesses that may be interested?

The Silent Auction is always a popular part of the conference, as well as an important funding source for the conference scholarship program.For more information, or to make a donation, contact Penny Leff, 530-752-7779

Please visit the conference website for more information about registration, workshops, Tasting Reception, and scholarships.

Help us map ALL of California Agritourism

The UC Small Farm Program is involved in a multi-state research project to learn what influences, such as location, community support or type of operation, make agritourism most successful in Western States. As part of this project, we will be creating a map showing the locations of as many agritourism operations (including wineries) as we can locate. We will contact association leaders and tourism professionals to ask for lists of those farm, winery and ranch members that are open to the public, and may be contacting you to verify information. Thank you for your help with this project. It will be quite a map! When it's finished, we'll share it with everyone who is included.

California map with pictures

In addition, you may receive a short questionnaire by mail sometime in the next few months. It will arrive with a self-addressed stamped return envelope for your convenience. Thank you very much in advance for participating in this important research project by completing and returning the questionnaire about your agritourism operation. For more information, please contact UC Small Farm project team members Shermain Hardesty, 530-752-0467 or Penny Leff, 530-752-7779.

This project is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant # 2014-68006-21842 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Some December Agritourism

You are a creative group! Here is a taste of what some of you are doing this month:

Mountain Mandarin Orchard Days in Placer County
Open Farm Tour at Oasis Camel Dairy in San Diego County
McEvoy Ranch Holiday Open House in Petaluma
Work Day and Barn Dance - Pescadero
Snowy Peaks Christmas Tree Farm hot chocolate and wagon rides - Placer Co.
Dell'Osso Family Farms' Holidays on the Farm - Lathrop
Currier & Ives Christmas Show at Oak Glen, San Bernardino Co.

When's the last time you looked at www.CalAgTour.org ?
It's yours to use!

Thousands of people searched the UC Agritourism Directory & calendar last month for California farms and ranches to visit.

Did they find you? It's all free!

If you are a working California farmer or rancher operating an agritourism business or organizing agritourism events, we invite you to complete the directory application or the event listing form online to be included in the directory.

Please check your listing and update as needed. Send us your event news. (add paleff@ucdavis.edu to your email blast list) Let's fill up that events calendar!

Some useful resources...

Farm Based Education Network
A free member network established to strengthen and support the work of educators, farmers and community leaders providing access and experiences of all kinds on productive working farms
Integrating Safety into Agritourism
This website contains a variety of walkthroughs, based on the type of operation, to help owners identify health and safety hazards and provides resources that can be used to help fix these hazards. It's a great tool that can be used to help keep children safe when they visit farms and ranches.
North America Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) - a membership based trade association dedicated to providing endless peer-to-peer learning opportunities, connections and resources, for farmers who are passionate about the business of agritourism and farm direct marketing.
UC Small Farm Program Agritourism - research reports, factsheets, handouts and presentations from workshops, articles and current projects
World Wide Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF US) - linking visitors with organic farmers for educational exchange
AgLink Connect - new privately-developed website and app with the goal of connecting the public with agritourism, fairs, festivals, restaurants, events and other farm and ranch related activities. Free listings and video-making tool.
Farm Stay U.S. - A website operated by the U.S. Farm Stay Association (and Scottie Jones of Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon), for promoting farm and ranch stays in the United States. The site includes resource sections for farm stay operators and for farm stay visitors.

Thanks for reading to the bottom of the page. Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think may find it useful (Use the "forward this email" link just below),or share using the links at the top.

Penny Leff

UC ANR Small Farm Program

530-752-7779, paleff@ucdavis.edu