Agritourism rural businesses may succeed best by starting gently

One of the most popular rural businesses today is hosting group activities on farms and in rural communities.

Make rural businesses reflect your passions

When I interviewed farmers and wrote the title, The New Agritourism: Hosting Community and Tourists on Your Farm, I noticed how much the rural folks loved what they were doing. Some hosted five-star chefs on their farms and taught them how to use fresh herbs. Others gave horse carriage rides or farm tours to school children.

Some indulged in their other hobbies such as quilting, bird watching or creative writing to turn the farm into a rental location for groups who shared that interest to hold meetings and be inspired by the surroundings.

The main thing that helped them succeed was starting slowly and breaking into these types of rural businesses gently.

A great trick for success: start with a small group already formed

Sure, someday you may host 5000 annual visitors at $10 a head to enjoy your sheep ranch, orchard or heirloom vegetable farm. But tending people and holding group activities is different than tending lettuce, apples and sheep. The key to success is building up “crowd savvy” and confidence by starting small. Choose a small group that’s already a unit (a garden club, a scout troupe) to experience whatever agritourism venture you have planned.

That way, you can count on a certain number showing up (not hoards, and not… no one). Plus, if the group already knows each other, they’re more likely to be a first well-behaved audience.

This works whether agritourism rural businesses mean earning income directly by charging for the event, or earning income indirectly just by attracting people to the farm for free in hopes they’ll buy retail items sold on the farm.

For example, one woman with a very successful rural business and a passion for gardening invites people out to tour her pretty gardens for free, then they buy the garden starts and garden gifts sold from her greenhouse and barn.

Possible local groups to choose from

• Preschools
• Elementary schools
• Homeschool groups (some have more formal group attachments)
• Boy and Girl Scouts of America
• Church members
• Garden clubs
• Senior centers
• A local Slow Food Convivium. Slow Food is an international movement with national, state and local chapters. Members often love to tour farms. Each country has an online site that lists groups by location.
• Audubon Society
• Society of Retired Citizens
• Veterans associations
• Other civic and ethnic organizations

How to approach the group

If you’re inviting them out for free, it’s a little easier. Contact the leader and agree on a date, then confirm that enough people in the group will show up. Let them know this is an exclusive group activity just for them.
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If charging, consider a fee you hope to charge in the future, then try to attract your group by offering a discount just this once, letting them know they are the first to get to try this rural event out, and they get a discount over future events. Have the teacher or group leader collect fees for you and turn them in the day before the event if possible to assure the group will pay and show up. As time goes on, you’ll gain more experience and confidence in collecting fees yourself from the general public.

Or, if it feels awkward to invite a group while asking them to pay you, consider using them just for practice and not charging, letting them know this will be a fee-based activity in the future, and they can just donate if they are able.

But don’t undersell yourself or set a precedent that you host group activities for free if that's not your ultimate plan. It’s often best to try to find a group you can charge from the beginning.

Staying safe and legal

Rural businesses, no matter how much fun, do need to operate in a business-like fashion. It can be cheap and uncomplicated to make sure you don’t lose the farm because of some sue-happy jerk who steps in a non-existent gopher hole. But the right measures do need to be taken upfront. The title, The New Agritourism covers this topic. Or, see the free article on this issue at the Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement which discusses the legalities of rural businesses

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