Date of Award

2020

Advisor(s)

Meredith T. Niles

Project Description

This analysis demonstrates that there is signficant unrealized potential to advance agritourism within the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Plan: 2020 (Part One)1 strategic plan and that applying an agritourism lens allows for the identification of a wide range of additional opportunities that can support Vermont farmers and agritourism goals. While agritourism is recognized in the report with a dedicated issue brief, this subsector of Vermont agriculture is otherwise largely overlooked in the other opportunities identified in Vermont’s strategic plan, particularly for the agritourism activities of hospitality, recreation, and entertainment. While direct-to-consumer sales, agricultural education, and farm diversification were referenced within the strategic plan’s opportunities, there is substantial room for increased attention to these activities as well.

- 3/22 (14%) of the briefs explicitly mention agritourism activities within their respective opportunities sections (Apples, Dairy, and Direct Markets)

- 18/22 (82%) of the briefs have the potential to incorporate agritourism, or could do so to a greater extent, according to our analysis

- 6/157 (4%) of all opportunities across all briefs are explicitly related to agritourism, while 27/157 (17%) are implicitly related to agritourism (Table 1)

- We identify 57 potential but overlooked agritourism opportunities across the report briefs and agritourism categories (Table 1)

- Hospitality, recreation, and entertainment activities are absent from the opportunities (Table 1)

- Farm diversification, recreation and agricultural education hold the greatest potential for future agritourism growth and investment (Table 1)

Project Approach

Policy

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

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