SDSPA Producers Featured at New AgritourismSD Training
Jolene & Jeff Stewart of Stewart’s Aronia Acres discuss their operation and the benefits of aronia, black currants and haskaps at AgritourismSD on May 13, 2021.
AgritourismSD is an intensive educational program designed to provide farmers and ranchers with the opportunity to create an enterprise that utilizes resources in different ways to generate new income streams. Agritourism links agricultural production and processing with tourism to attract visitors to a farm or ranch for the purpose of entertaining and educating visitors while generating additional income for the agriculture operation.
The program was launched this month by SDSU Extension, the S.D. Dept. of Tourism, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Grant Program.
The participants interact through both web-based events and face-to-face workshops and study trips. The two-year program kickoff event was May 13 & 14, 2021 in Pierre. Approximately 16 operators participated in the initial event.
Two SDSPA producers, Peggy Martin, Cedar Creek Gardens, and Jeff and Jolene Stewart, Stewart’s Aronia Acres, provided booths at the Fort Pierre Community Gardens with taste testing as part of a ‘Taste of Ft. Pierre’ tour. Participants sampled vegetables and products made from black currants and haskaps.
Peggy Martin of Cedar Creek Gardens tells her farm story and provides vegetable samples to program participants.
The farmers both had the opportunity to tell their farm stories and demonstrate how operators may want to have their stories ready for an audience, how to give a concise talk, and how to present their products.
For more information on agritourism resources and sites in South Dakota visit our website.