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California AgTour Connections
UC Agritourism News & Notes
February 2015
In This Issue
Greetings!

 

Spring is almost here and you've got lots to do. We hope you can spare some time to join us for a couple of exciting upcoming events.

The last day to register online for the 2015 California Small Farm Conference (in San Diego March 7 to 10 this year) is Monday March 2nd.

Please save Wednesday April 8 to participate in the California Statewide Agritourism Summit in Woodland. This will be a chance for everyone in California agritourism to learn from each other and plan for the future.

A select number of you will be getting an envelope in the mail from us very soon. This is part of a multi-state agritourism study. Thank you in advance for opening the envelope and taking 20 minutes to share your experience.

More news about the Small Farm Conference, the Statewide Summit and other projects below. Have a happy Springtime, and we hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

 

Penny Leff, Agritourism Coordinator
UC Small Farm Program
 
California Statewide 
Agritourism Summit 
  Horse-drawn hay ride at Full Belly Farm Hoes Down Harvest Festival  
Registration is now open - please join us on April 8!  

Planning the future of California agritourism
Developing a Framework for Communication, Collaboration & Advocacy 

Calling all agritourism interested parties!  Including agritourism operators and associations, agritourism regulators, agricultural associations and educators, tourism, marketing and economic development professionals, county and state staff and elected officials, and everyone else involved in California agritourism.

When: Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - 8:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Where: Heidrick Agricultural History Center, 1962 Hays Lane, Woodland CA 95776
What: An awesome event that you won't want to miss out on!
See more info

Presented by the UC Small Farm Program and UC Cooperative Extension 

 

Registration: $20.00 pre-registration (until April 3, 2015); $30.00 at the door.

Register today

 

This will be a participatory all-day session (8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) with lunch provided. Participants are invited to bring marketing and organizational information to display and share.  

 

The goals of the summit are to:

  • California map with pictures Build awareness and understanding of successful local and regional networks that benefit agricultural producers and communities, and connect agritourism operators, the larger tourism community and county staff and officials
  • Promote sharing of successful agritourism activities and marketing efforts
  • Encourage and assist agritourism producers to collaborate with others in their region
  • Expand the reach of regional efforts to market agritourism to the public statewide
  • Generate a voice for agritourism at a legislative level
  • Initiate plans for a statewide framework for agritourism communication and collaboration

Sponsors

This project is funded in part by the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Specialty Crop Block Grant program. Additional sponsors are Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE) for California, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and California Rangeland Conservation Coalition.

 

Travel assistance available

Funding is available through these generous sponsors to assist with travel costs for a limited number of agricultural producers and agricultural educators who could not otherwise attend the Summit. For information about travel assistance, please contact Penny Leff, [email protected], 530-752-7779

 

Website, more information 

Summit agenda  

 

Fliers (please share): pdf version     jpg version  

   

Registration fee: $20.00 pre-registration (until April 3, 2015); $30.00 at the door

Register today 

California Small Farm Conference less than 2 weeks away!
San Diego, March 7 - 10, 2015  

CA Small Farm Conference

Online Registration is open for the California Small Farm Conference until March 2, 2015. - Don't miss the state's premier gathering for small-scale farmers and ranchers, farm employees and apprentices, farmers' market managers, university researchers, agricultural educators and students, food policy and small farm advocates, consumers and others. Register here

The goal of the Conference is to promote the success and viability of small and family owned farming operations and farmers markets through field courses, workshops and plenty of networking opportunities, including the Monday night tasting reception, Taste of San Diego, showcasing local producers and chefs.

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 Going Beyond Direct Marketing Field Course.

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? You will get great exposure at the Silent Auction table with folks interested in small farms!

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  or download, complete and return the Silent Auction Donation Form

 

We hope to see some of you on the Sunday Field Courses
Help us understand your challenges - please open the envelope!!  
The UC Small Farm Program is involved in a multi-state research project to learn what factors, such as location, community support or type of operation, make agritourism most successful in Western States. Some of you will receive a short questionnaire by mail sometime in the next few weeks. 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 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.
Are your farm and events listed on www.CalAgTour.org ??

Check out our new link on the Visit California website!

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 it as needed. Send us your event news. (add [email protected] to your email news blast list) 
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 little-girl-laptop.jpg 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
  • 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, [email protected]