Would your family enjoy visiting an operating farm? A farm visit can be a tremendous learning experience and also great family fun. Seeing how a farm operates and the effort that goes into growing crops or raising livestock provides appreciation for the food we consume daily or becomes an eye-opening experience on seeing non-traditional crops being grown. Further its a great opportunity to try new products, foods and beverages produced from those crops.
If this sounds like something you’d like to do, check out Visit Iowa Farms at www.visitiowafarms.org where you will find a listing of farms across the state willing to host visitors. The Visit Iowa Farms program is administered by the Value Added Agriculture Program of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
Users of the site can find a farm by adventure type, county, or distance from a specific location. Agritourism has continued to grow in Iowa and according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, there were 275 farms in the state open to the public. Agritourism in Iowa has been growing steadily.
The site is also useful to farmers wanting to list their operation on the Visit Iowa Farms website. Besides registering, there are also resources for business planning, marketing, and legal and regulation considerations as they set up and publicize their agritourism operation.
For more on what to do and see in rural Iowa, download the Iowa Tour Guide (2015) which gives many ideas and even planned tours through the state to see agriculture in many different forms. Agritourism is all about connecting travelers or curiosity seekers to life down on the farm. Check out the opportunities! You’ll be amazed!
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has relaunched its Visit Iowa Farms website at http://www.visitiowafarms.org.