E. Lewis is conducting the study with Jean Murphy, assistant community development agent.
Other participants include UW-Platteville Agricultural Economist Bob Acton, the Center for
Integrated Agricultural Systems, UW-Extension Recreation Resources Center, the Wisconsin
Rural Development Center, and Hidden Valleys, a Southwestern Wisconsin regional tourism
organization. This past fall, Murphy organized several workshops with some Green and Grant
County farmers, local business leaders, and motor coach tour operators to discuss how best to
organize and put on farm tours. Committees were formed to look at the following: tour site
evaluations, inventory of the area’s resources, tour marketing, and familiarization of tours. The
fourth committee is organizing tours for people such as tour bus guides and local reporters to
help better educate them about agricultural tourism. Green County farmers already have
experience hosting visitors during the annual Monroe Cheese Days. Green county Tourism
Director Larry Lindgren says these farmers are set to go ahead with more formal agricultural
tours next year. The tours will combine a farm visit with a visit to a local cheese factory and a
picnic lunch.
F. Another farm interested in hosting an organized tour is Sinsinawa, a 200-acre Grant County
farm devoted to sustainable agriculture and run by the Dominican Sisters. Education plays a
major role at the farm, which has an orchard, dairy and beef cows, and hogs. Farm tours could
be combined with other activities in the area such as trips to the Mississippi River and/or visits
to historical towns orlandmarks, Lewis says. The project will help expose farmers to the tourism
industry and farm vacations as a way to possibly supplement incomes, he adds. While farm
families probably wouldn’t make a lot of money through farm tours, they would be
compensated for their time, says Lewis. Farmers could earn additional income through the sale
of farm products, crafts, and recreational activities.
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