Posted on: Friday, October 22, 2004
Farmers urged to tap into tourism
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i visitors are not only hungry for local food, they also want to see and experience how Island farmers and ranchers produce it, an "agritourism" consultant told farmers and others in the agriculture industry yesterday.
"We have people literally flocking to farms to experience something that ... producers out there take for granted," said Jane Eckert, president of St. Louis-based Eckert AgriMarketing. "You don't realize truly what you have to offer."
Eckert's family operates a fruit orchard, restaurant and country store in Illinois; she helped build the farm into a tourist attraction drawing about 500,000 visitors a year.
"This is truly an opportunity to increase your revenue," Eckert said at an agriculture conference luncheon in Waikiki. "It is an opportunity for your children to stay in the family business."
Eckert encouraged farmers and ranchers to create ways to draw and entertain visitors, who come with open pocketbooks and are eager for some hands-on experience. She cited existing examples of agritourism here, such as farm tours, camping, donkey rides and other activities.
"They want to do something that is unique, that they can't do at home," Eckert said. "Most of these people live in very urban environments. They want to experience your culture. ... They want to get out to the countryside."
She cited a 2001 federal survey that found 62 million Americans had visited a farm or a ranch that year.
"I'm not making this up, folks — it is growing by leaps and bounds," Eckert said. "The tourism connection has been made."
Agritourism is a small, but growing niche market in Hawai'i. Agritourism-related income totaled $33.9 million last year, up 30 percent from the $26 million generated in 2000, according to a report released this week by the Hawai'i Agricultural Statistics Service.
Last year 187 farms in Hawai'i had agritourism activity, compared with 126 farms in 2000, the survey said. An additional 145 farms either started agritourism activities this year, or plan to in the future.
While only about 3 percent of Hawai'i's farms engaged in agritourism last year, the increase "is evidence that many see this as an opportunity to supplement their income and manage the risks inherent in farming," the report said.
Agritourism helps keep the agriculture industry alive, said Thomas Kafsack, who opened the Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui in 2002 with his wife, Eva-Maria.
The Kafsacks, who produce and sell gourmet goat cheese, began tours to remain profitable. The dairy tours allow visitors to feed, herd and milk the goats, learn about cheese-making and sample cheeses.
"It's very, very hard to make a profit, especially with goat cheese, which is very labor intensive," said Thomas Kafsack. "So then you have to find ... other areas of revenue. That's the only chance to survive."
Kafsack said tourism-related receipts make up about 40 percent of their total revenues. So far this year the tours have drawn about 4,300 people — about triple the number of visitors last year.
"A lot of people want to see this," Kafsack said. "It's amazing how many e-mails and postcards and letters and nice little paintings from kids we are getting."
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.
