NEWS RELEASE
Changes in the economy combined with fluctuations in agricultural income and the desire to preserve land and resources has placed increased pressure on farmers across the nation to examine alternative economic opportunities. Many farmers are turning to agritourism as an entrepreneurial response to increase on-farm sales of their value-added products and services and generate revenues directly associated with recreational and tourism activities.
To assist agricultural enterprises and communities expand into agritourism, NC State University Tourism Extension, in partnership with Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and NC Cooperative Extension Service, is offering a 5-part East Coast Agritourism Webinar Series. "Introduction to Agritourism," the first webinar in the series was offered March 2, 2910. Approximately 70 farmers, extension agents, and tourism researchers and practitioners from across the Eastern United States logged on to participate in this exciting, interactive webinar.
"Introduction to Agritourism" included a presentation and discussion of agritourism including defining agritourism, examples of agritourism, impacts of agritourism in the U.S., helpful agritourism resources and more. The presenter was Dr. Samantha Rozier Rich, an Assistant Professor and Tourism Extension Specialist at North Carolina State University.
Four more webinars on additional agritourism-related topics will be offered throughout March and April 2010.
For more information and to register for the East Coast Agritourism Webinar series visit http://www.ncsu.edu/tourismextension/WebinarSeries.html.