Agritourism offers consumers and farmers new ways to interact
with each other
– and learn
For many of us, this time of year – apricot season – means one thing: For a few weeks, bins at farmers markets and grocery stores are overflowing with the soft, orange-fleshed fruit. We buy them; we eat them, and that’s that.
For apricot farmers, though, the story is different. During months leading up to peak season, their schedule is full as they seek labor to help pick and process the fruit, begin taking advanced orders and start making preparations to sell at farmers markets and other venues.
Whether they grow apricots or any other agricultural product, for many farmers, the fruits and vegetables that appear in markets and stores are only one part of the equation, the culmination of months of work and planning.
To encourage consumers to understand better the story behind their food, several local farmers offer tours of their orchards and processing facilities. Many farmers also have established on-site gourmet shops as well as online mail-order businesses. Some offer farm stays, where visitors pay a small fee to spend anywhere from two days to week on a farm to experience firsthand what it’s like to be a farmer.
Tours, shops and farm stays are examples of agritourism, a word describing a number of hospitality-based activities that take place on or around farms. Agritourism targets all types of tourists, from people wanting to learn more about where their food comes from to those looking for a different kind of vacation.
For the consumer, agritourism is a fun, hands-on experience, and it connects people to their food and the people growing it. For small-scale farmers, agritourism is one way to increase revenue in a time when large-scale, corporate agricultural operations are becoming increasingly prominent.
“I think people need to be educated as to where their food comes from,” said Mari Rossi, third-generation owner of Hollister’s B&R Farms, along with her husband Jim. “It’s not from a grocery store, and I think (touring) can help people understand that.”
The Rossis grow Blenheim apricots, a gourmet variety that is ideal for making dried apricots – the farm’s specialty. The farm features a small gourmet shop that sells apricot preserves and chutney, chocolate-covered apricots and several other culinary commodities made from recipes created by Mari’s mother and mother-in-law. Occasionally, tourists – and even local residents – pass by the farm on Fairview Road and stop in to do some shopping. But the majority of the Rossis’ sales come from their online and mail-order business, as well as local farmers markets.
For the past several years, the Rossis have given tours of their farm and processing facility, primarily to large groups such as college students in agricultural courses and senior citizens from retirement homes. So far, the tours have been free to visitors, but Mari Rossi said she wouldn’t be surprised if in the future that changed.
‘With the way the world is headed, nothing’s free anymore,” she said.
It seems people increasingly are willing to pay to see the origins of their food, said Lorene Scott, store manager at Andy’s Orchards, owned by Andy Mariani. Interest in touring the 30-acre farm in the Morgan Hill countryside steadily has increased since Mariani launched the tours last summer, Scott said, and this summer, the tours have been packed.
Like the Rossis, Mariani grows Blenheim apricots as well as several other, increasingly rare varieties of fruit. The 2- to 2 1/2-hour tour takes visitors through the orchards while Mariani explains the farm’s history, how different varieties grow and how the fruit is processed. Visitors are given samples of different kinds of fruits, similar to a wine tasting, to experience the idiosyncrasies of each variety.
At the tour’s end, visitors are brought to the farm stand and country store, which sells fresh and dried fruits as well as nuts, fruit confections, hand-made candies and gift items. Although there is a charge for the tours – $10 per person and free for children younger than 12 – the bulk of the tourist-based revenue comes from the store, Scott said.
“People taste different varieties on the tours and find out what they like, then come into the store and buy it,” she said. “I think the appeal (of tours) is seeing how a farm actually operates. There’s no commercialism – people get to see what an orchard is all about and what it is to experience fruit right from the orchard.”
Statewide, nearly 400 farms similar to B&R Farms and Andy’s Orchard are listed in a database created by the University of California Small Farm Center, a Davis, Calif.-based collaboration of UC staff, farmers, farm industry representatives and educators working to promote small farms.
The Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County farm bureaus also annually produce a joint publication called Country Crossroads Farmers to You. Along with a harvest calendar and guide to finding particular fruits and vegetables, the guide includes a map showing the location of all the farmers who participate. The latest edition, released a few months ago, is the first time the guide features farmers in San Benito and Monterey counties.
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With their fuzzy, orange-and-yellow-toned skin and deep-orange flesh, dried apricots look yummy enough at grocery stores and farmers markets. But after seeing how they’re made from start to finish, they look even better.
A tour of B&R Farms offers a close-up look at how apricots are picked, washed, split and pitted, and dried in the sun. First, the fruit is weighed and dumped into a large tub of water before traveling up a pulley under a light shower of more water.
The apricots then progress via a conveyer belt where they are sorted and pitted by a line of about 40 workers, who look for certain qualities in the apricots depending on the different types of dried products. For instance, for the slip-pit apricot – the farm’s bestseller – the whole apricot is dried, and the pit is removed. Only very ripe, soft apricots are used to make slip-pits, resulting in a plump, moist and chewy dried apricot.
After passing through a few more conveyer belts – which shake the apricots so they’re all lying face up, thus retaining moisture – workers load the fruits onto 8-foot-by-3-foot trays made from redwood.
The trays are taken to small enclosures where the fruit is fumigated with sulfur dioxide, which helps preserve color and flavor. Finally, the trays are laid out to dry in the sun before being collected and packaged for sale. Depending on the weather, apricots are dried in the sun anywhere from four to seven days. Early-morning fog brings moisture back into the fruits, requiring they spend more time sunbathing. This year’s mild summer means each batch of apricots has dried for about five or six days on average.
To view farms offering agritourism as listed in the University of California Small Farm Center database, go to www.calagtour.org. Activities include agricultural-heritage museums, festivals, farm-animal petting zoos, corn mazes, pumpkin patches and nature hikes. The database also lists locations to buy farm-fresh or organic produce at roadside stands, U-pick operations and farmers markets.
Country Crossroads Farmers to You map is available at local hotels, visitors bureaus and chambers of commerce. Or, send a self-address, stamped envelope to Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, 605 Tennant Ave., Suite H, Morgan Hill, Calif., 95037, or Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, 141 Monte Vista Ave., Watsonville, Calif., 95076. Maps also are available at the bureaus’ offices, listed above.
Contact B&R Farms at (800) 930-9168 and Andy’s Orchard at (408) 782-7600.
