Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
II
Farm Produce and Agritourism
The real challenge is defining from a consumer's perspective what food
tourism is and what it is not. It used to be that the weekly shop was not
classed as tourism and going away on a visit was classed as tourism. With
more and more consumers now buying their food at a tourist-style location,
the line between the two styles of activities is blurred and will continue to
blend as the industry develops.
Traditionally farmers produced the product and then sold it at the local
market. With the arrival of the supermarket, the 'long food chain' was devel-
oped and farmers became more and more removed from the end user. With
the arrival of supermarkets, farm profits started to decline and in many cases
seem to be continuing to decline. Many farmers started to ask if there was
another way of developing the market and as a result the 'short food chain'
is developing and evolving.
The 'short food chain' has taken a number of different routes and options. We
now need to discuss how farmers and local food suppliers are growing the culinary
food chain market around the world.
The real challenge has been for farmers to understand tourists' needs
and wants and likewise for tourists to understand farmers' needs and wants.
As consultants we have seen projects fail around the world due to a lack of
understanding between both parties.
Farmer involvement in tourism has evolved in many ways. The primary
developments can be classified as 'on-farm marketing' and 'off-farm marketing';
many farmers have often developed both concurrently.
The following chapters provide a range of ideas to develop food tourism
both on the farm, off the farm and in rural and metropolitan areas.
