Traveling Workshop Highlights South Dakota and Nebraska Agritourism Businesses
SDSPA’s Malisa Niles attended the SD/NE 2024 Agritourism and Adventure Travel Workshop which toured agritourism businesses in SD and NE iN November.
South Dakota and Nebraska producers, tourism experts, and people interested in starting an agritourism enterprise came together in Yankton, Nov. 5-7 to learn about the many facets of agritourism, the current demand for agriculture experiences and how it creates economic development. The workshop was a cooperative project of South Dakota State University, Travel SD and Visit Nebraska. The workshop was kicked off Tuesday night by SD’s own Eliza Blue who spoke about her journey into agritourism in Harding County followed by Taste of South Dakota and Nebraska networking opportunity.
Wednesday morning, 48 tour participants loaded a bus headed across the Missouri River to Nebraska. Nebraska showed off their rich diversity of agritourism operations. Tour participants visited Poppy’s Pumpkin Patch testing out the slides, mini-zip line, peddling cars and petting the animals during the tour led by owners, Ryan and Mashaela Wolken.
After the pumpkin patch, tour participants stretched their legs on the Cowboy Trail. The Cowboy Trail is a developing trail using an old rail line that will eventually stretch across Nebraska. Currently the trail runs from Norfolk to Valentine. Lunch was an example of a Farm to Fork establishment. Norfolk restaurant Black Cow Fat Pig sources a large amount of their ingredients working with local growers and changing their menu to reflect seasonal offerings. The name Black Cow Fat Pig is a nod to their sourcing of Black Angus.
After lunch, the group stopped at Pfanny’s Farm which has a rental cabin, farm store, geo-thermal greenhouse, and is working on developing a grounding experience offering. The grounding experience would be a fall/winter offering and involves planting a high tunnel to grass during the winter months, pulling in a restored vintage camper, and having overnight guests. Guests can ground themselves by enjoying grass between their toes and some warm sunshine.
After Pfanny’s tour, the tour participants traveled to Hartington NE and toured Town Square Offices and Hotel Hartington. Both buildings were recently remodeled by Drs. Ben and Erin Schroeder, The Heartland Docs. Heartland Docs was a TV reality show centered around Ben and Erin’s veterinary practice that ran 5 seasons. Dinner was Native Inspired and featured the creations of Chef Anthony Warrior. The main course was Braised Bison Stuffed Squash, Wild Rice with Maple Syrup, Dried Berries and Toasted Pecans, and Purple Hominy, Lima Beans and Sweet Pepper Succotash. Dessert was Roasted Menominee Squash Pudding with Wojipe served with Toasted Corn, Cinnamon and Honey Tea. After supper, the bus returned back to South Dakota.
Good Earth Farm offers market gardens, a pick your own patch, pizza nights with their wood fired pizza oven, an overnight stay option, event venue, and is an animal sanctuary for an eclectic crew of farm animals.
The first stop Thursday was Blue Tin Ranch which is developing into a beautiful event venue. Noreen Jorgensen, runs the venue with her daughters. It offers a reception hall, 1909 barn, several stay options, and is currently in the process of adding a roof to the expanded pavilion. Noreen spoke about the trials, and successes of creating an agritourism operation.
Good Earth Farm was the tour’s next stop. Good Earth Farm has market gardens, a pick your own patch, offers pizza nights with their wood fired pizza oven, an overnight stay option, event venue, and is an animal sanctuary for an eclectic crew of farm animals. While Nancy was leading the tour, Jeff was cooking up pizzas. The hungry tour group each grabbed a pizza box. Three different pizzas were available; Tomato Bruschetta, Mexican Street Corn, and Buffalo Sausage, Onion and Pepper. Trading quickly started so everyone could try all the options.
A very full group loaded the bus and headed for Mazing Acres Pumpkin Patch. While their pumpkins were amazing, the fun variety of outdoor games and show stopping photo ops were certainly a crowd stopper. Owners, Scott and Molly, spoke of their agritourism journey which hosts an estimated 20,000 guests in the 7 weeks they are open. After learning about Mazing Acres, tour participants tested out the swings, shot the Apple Airgun, raced in the hamster wheels, and took tons of pictures. After playing for a while, the bus reloaded to our last tour stop and supper.
Valiant Vineyards was the first winery in South Dakota. Owner Eldon Nygaard gave a tour of the winery production room and cellar while partner in business and life Sherry finished the supper and tastings preparation. Eldon spoke about the challenges of making wine in South Dakota and the need for specialty production, using rhubarb as an example, to support not only wineries, but specialty products such as jams and jellies. After a delightful meal and many gratitudes, the bus loaded one last time and headed back to Yankton.
The SD/NE 2024 Agritourism and Adventure Travel Workshop was an outstanding opportunity to visit agritourism locations, pick the owners’ brain and glean ideas for starting or growing an agritourism opportunity, and learning how to promote agritourism.
