Farmers cultivate the tourist industry
Farmers and officials in Franklin County are developing agritourism to attract visitors and preserve farmland.
By Megan Watzin
Roanoke Times
July 25, 2006
Shuffling through Homestead Creamery, holding their noses and wearing droopy, oversized hairnets, a gaggle of preschoolers watched workers bottle milk and make ice cream.
Afterward, they perched at two outdoor picnic tables and gulped samples of strawberry, chocolate and orange cream milk from creamery co-owner Donnie Montgomery, who later took them to his family's farm.
At $5 a head for the tour, these squirmy 4- and 5-year-olds from Roanoke with multicolored milk mustaches are just the kind of customers Franklin County wants to see more often.
Starting with the addition of agricultural tourism to the county's recently drafted comprehensive plan, officials are hoping to encourage county farmers to pursue ventures that draw the public to their farms. The comprehensive plan provides long-term guidelines for shaping the county's growth.
The goal is not only to bolster tourism in Franklin County but to help farmers stay in business and preserve farmland.
"We've got a lot of interest in it as it pertains to preserving our farms," said Scott Martin, commerce and leisure services director for Franklin County. "When it comes to open space preservation, you either buy open space with public funds or you figure out a way for farms to make money and stay in business."
Agritourism is one of the latest buzzwords in farming communities. It's a way for farmers to draw revenue at a time when milk prices are down and crops don't bring in much profit. It can be pumpkin patches, hayrides and corn mazes, wineries, pick-your-own orchards and more. Homestead Creamery is one of only a few examples in Franklin County.
The county has a lot of potential for agriculture-based tourism, but has rarely taken advantage of it, said Sue Puffenbarger, a Virginia Cooperative Extension agent in Franklin County.
"I think there hasn't been a push for it yet, and at least on some farmers' end, they've got so much to do, they can't do it on their own," Puffenbarger said.
Cooperative Extension, an outreach program of Virginia Tech that provides aid to farmers, plans to contribute to the county's push by helping farmers obtain grants to fund tourism ventures and providing resources to get them started.
Having agritourism in the comprehensive plan will help county leaders make decisions more accommodating for those businesses, Martin said. The Franklin County Board of Supervisors is slated to vote on the plan this fall.
"It doesn't make it happen by having it in the plan. It provides more justification for us to allocate resources," said Boone District Supervisor David Hurt.
Resources from the county could be anything from financial and staff assistance for farmers to ensuring zoning doesn't interfere with tourism, Hurt said.
Farming "is still a major part of our economy and our landscape," he said. "If every dairy farm in Franklin County vanished overnight, it would be a tremendous loss. We need to start working harder to keep farming viable."
Hurt has commissioned a study from the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission outlining how farmers in the county can start wineries. Franklin County has vineyards but no wine production. Wineries have been a big draw for tourists in neighboring Bedford County.
Franklin County is in an ideal location for attracting tourists, Puffenbarger said. The Blue Ridge Parkway and U.S. 220 bring a lot of people through the region, and Smith Mountain Lake not only brings many tourists, it is also home to many people who are new to the area and might want to learn about agriculture.
"We've got an extreme amount of potential here," Puffenbarger said. "We're in a good spot, and I don't foresee that changing."
Local residents and school groups can also take advantage of tourist activities offered. Right now, Johnson's Orchards and Peaks of Otter Winery in Bedford County gets many Franklin County schools' field trips, said Nancy Johnson, one of its owners.
The ability to keep milk prices stable and have income to keep his family farm running is why Montgomery now hosts many such field trips.
In addition to waking up before dawn each day to milk his herd of 100 cows, Montgomery opens up his farm several times a week to tours during the creamery's busy months.
Marketing and putting together an efficient operation were two of the most difficult aspects of getting Homestead Creamery running, Montgomery said.
"It was tough for a couple of years," Montgomery said. "Even though you have a good thing going and a good product, people have to know about it."
Johnson said working in agritourism requires farmers to have a great tolerance with people.
"It is difficult every single morning to be bright and cheerful over that hen laying that egg," she said.
She also said it is vital that a county has zoning and noise ordinances that are friendly to agritourism.
Franklin County's noise ordinance, for example, could make it difficult for a vineyard to host a concert.
Martin said as the new comprehensive plan is shaped, it is the perfect time to examine whether Franklin County's ordinances are tourism friendly.
Scott Sink, president of the Franklin County Farm Bureau board, said cost and uncertainties about liability for accidents that could happen while tourists are on the farms could hamper farmer interest.
But he said agritourism is something young farmers are increasingly getting involved in. Although there are only a few ventures in Franklin County, Sink said he believes interest is growing.
"I think it's something that for the next generation down in farming, it's something they're going to have to look at," Sink said. "More research and more programs are becoming available to help people get started in the agritourism enterprises."
