| PROJECT SUMMARY |
This project focused on risk management education and planning for California’s agritourism operators. The project facilitated the integration of small-scale agriculture and tourism to add value and sustainability to California farms. Our previous work and needs assessments indicated that agricultural producers identify risk as the most significant constraint to agritourism development.
Participants attended a workshop on agritourism at the statewide small farm conference and one participatory workshop. This project accommodated 60 participants in total. Within four months of the conference, 23 participants identified enterprise specific risks associated with agritourism development on their farms and developed plans to mitigate, reduce, or shift these risks. By April 2006, 15 participants completed a business plan that considers market , financial, institutional, and human and legal risks associated with agritourism development on their farm. This project resulted in producer adoption of best practices for enterprise diversification with respect to agritourism. We also developed and utililzed a set of state-of-the art educational materials which have been uploaded to the project materials section of this report. |
| NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 60 |
| TOPICS COVERED |
| Insurance products |
| Product and enterprise diversification |
| Market analysis and outlook |
| Marketing strategies, plans and clubs |
| Direct, wholesale, and processing markets |
| Contract production, branded or certified marketing, and value-added enterprises |
| Financial records, analysis, and bench-marking |
| Tools for managing legal liability |
| Understanding of economic risks associated with new production technologies |
| Business and strategic planning |
| Ability to manage changes in policy and regulation |
