Teaching AgriTourism to Direct Farm Marketers

Jane Eckert is CEO of Eckert AgriMarketing, a firm specializing in providing marketing resources and consultation to farms, wineries and ranches involved agritourism and direct farm marketing.

 

Rudy Maxa, The Savvy Traveler, On Agritourism

Jane was recently a guest on Rudy Maxa's World, talking briefly about Agritourism in North America. Rudy Maxa, aka "The Savvy Traveler," is one of America's premier consumer travel experts whose writings and radio and television shows have helped save thousands of travelers time and money.

A former Washington Post reporter, he is a contributing editor with National Geographic Traveler and Delta Air Lines' Sky magazine. His nearly 100 public television episodes on the great destinations of the world have numerous awards including several Emmy Awards. His weekend radio show, "Rudy Maxa's World," is the country's most widely syndicated travel talk radio show.

Click here to listen to the interview. (Jane's segment begins at 5:09)

2014-Tour the Farms and Vineyards of Italy!

March 11-21, 2014

Save the date and start planning now to join us for this very special Agritour of the farms, markets, and vineyards of Italy. Because their season is very similar to ours, the 2014 tour will be March 11-21, 2014, allowing us to see everything open and in action!

See Rome and Florence, but also many of the smaller towns and villages of Tuscany, Sorrento, Naples, costal villages and more. This agritouri includes many of the "must-see sites" of Italy, but also the chance to meet and talk with farm families, and see the magnificent Italian countryside.

Please click here for our advance brochure. The price shown is tentative, as we are still finalizing a few details.

India Publication Picks Up on Agritourism

I recently met Dr. Subramaniam, an entomologist/agri-biotechnologist for Jain Irragation Systems Limited, an agriculture based company in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India. He was in St. Louis for an ag conference and called me. I gave him a tour of two of the Eckert Farms locations here in St. Louis, and asked him how he learned of my agrimarketing consulting business.

From his pocket, he produced this article which appeared in the May 16 issue of an Indian ag publication called Agro One. His boss gave him the article and told him he needed to meet me, as Jain has an agritourism component to their business as well. I'm told that this headline reads "A Revolution by an American Lady in Agri Tourism."

Agritourism Keynotes, Workshops & Breakout Sessions

Jane draws from an extensive range of first hand experience and knowledge to teach the marketing and tourism skills that help farms successfully transition to retail enterprises. Her presentations are punctuated by graphic illustrations and photographs that document the right way, and the wrong way, to grow the family farm business. Audiences eagerly participate and develop quick ownership of the new skills they learn.

A sixth generation farmer's daughter with a degree in business and more than 25 years of marketing experience, Jane has published six books on agritourism and agrimarketing, and has been featured in USA Today, Time, and This Week In Agribusiness on RFD-TV, among hundreds of media interviews and appearances. Jane has received numerous awards for her dedication to preserving the world's farms through agritourism and direct marketing, a passion that will quickly ignite your audience members to grow their personal farm businesses.

2014 Agritour to Experience Tuscany & Italy

For our 7th Eckert Agritour, we will be going to Italy on March 11 – 21, 2014, sampling a little of everything from the villages of Tuscany, to the famous cities of Florence and Rome.  This is sure to provide a truly unique old world agricultural experience while also perhaps one of the most picturesque places we have ever toured. The land size of Italy compares to about 3% of the land mass in the United States, or about the size of Arizona.  Yet, Italy has 1.639 million active farms compared to our 2.2 million.  Small, individually owned farms predominate with the majority of farms just 7.4 acres or 3 hectares.

Farming in Italy dates back many centuries, and the majority of the farms have been in the same family for generations.  Much of the farm land is located in the hilly regions, and we’ll visit scenic Tuscany as an extraordinary example of this terrain. Many of the cities in Tuscany were built as fortresses high on the hills and protected with walls and towers to view any approaching enemies.  The farms are located on the hillsides outside these walls, with spectacular views and very hilly terrain. Horticulture is the largest category of farming and as you might expect, vineyards and wine production are the largest grossing agricultural product category of the country.

While farmers still account for about 5% of the population, they have experienced many of the same economic concerns that we have here in the U.S.  They want to keep and preserve their family farm land and the way of life they have experienced for generations. And, like many farms elsewhere, they must look for other means of revenue for their farms in order to survive.

In the early 1980s, they turned to agriturismo (agritourism) and started providing farm based lodging. The need existed for more lodging facilities in these scenic hilly and mountain regions but the development of large hotels was just not feasible.  Many of these mountain top cities don’t even permit cars or buses.  Therefore, small inns, B & B’s and farm stay accommodations are meeting the demands for lodging for both local and tourist travel outside of the major Italian cities. Today, the country has almost 20,000 farms participating in a certified lodging program, providing the needed supplemental income for the farm families.

Typical farms participating in the farm stay program host an average of 10 people at a time and some even have many more beds. About a quarter of the farm stay sites are licensed only for lodging, but nearly 15,000 of the farms also provide licensed food service with tastings of their own products.  Our tour will include a farm stay, and we’ll see a sample of the foods, plus local sports, recreation and cultural activities available to guests.

To read the rest of this article, click here.