In rural Wisconsin, agricultural tourism has the potential to boost rural economies and diversify income for small and medium-sized farms. On April 30, the Extension Office in Crawford County led a community conversation about building the county’s agritourism sector. The event was held at a local retreat and farm-to-table destination in Soldier’s Grove, Red Clover Ranch.
Over 25 community stakeholders came together for conversation and presentations about their local agricultural tourism sector. The event featured presentations by local producers, a research review by UW-Extension, and an exercise for the group to determine how local organizations could support on-farm entrepreneurs.
Along with community development and tourism organizations, there were a number of farmers present at the event. The farmers reported challenges with marketing their businesses, and the group discussed the opportunity for local development organizations to help promote these businesses.
Crawford County intends to continue networking to develop and support its local agricultural tourism sector. This fall, it will host a business development training program for farmers around the region who are interested in starting agricultural tourism businesses. To stay updated on agritourism work in Crawford County, contact Sara Tedeschi at sara.tedeschi@wisc.edu.
This event was organized by the Rural Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Initiative and Crawford County Extension. Driftless Development also provided sponsorship for the event. For more information, contact RWEI Outreach Specialist Maggie Cornelius at mmcornelius@wisc.edu.
