Carla Barbieri

Understanding the Nature and Extent of Farm and Ranch Diversification in North America.

Pressure to adopt enhanced production technologies, changing government support policies, increasing and more diverse competition, and changing markets have posed economic challenges to North American farmers over the past two decades. As a response, farmers are adjusting their production model by incorporating agricultural related enterprises. Although there is evidence that farm diversification is occurring throughout North America, there is a dearth of scientific information regarding the types of enterprises being developed and used in this context. This study aims to fill this void by exploring the extent of farm diversification by identifying and describing eight types of enterprises that farmers and ranchers are using. It was found that levels of diversification are often dependent on operating and management attributes and owner characteristics, such as the number of family members working on the farm and the number of days that the farmers spouse works off the farm.

Assessing the sustainability of agritourism in the US: a comparison between agritourism and other farm entrepreneurial ventures

Diversifying on-farm enterprise portfolios, especially through agritourism, is claimed to increase farm revenues and help alleviate the economic problems of family farms. Thus, the adoption of agritourism in the US has steadily increased during recent years. Agritourism is also suggested to produce environmental and sociocultural benefits. To quantify these benefits, this study assessed the sustainability of agritourism farms, compared with other farm entrepreneurial ventures, using the “sustainable development” and “farm enterprise diversification” frameworks. Data from 873 US farms with a diversified entrepreneurial portfolio revealed that agritourism farms approach sustainability to a greater extent than their counterparts, producing multiple environmental, sociocultural and economic benefits for their farms, households and even society. Results suggest that agritourism, compared with other farm entrepreneurial ventures, is more successful in increasing farm profits, creating jobs and conserving the natural and cultural heritage. For example, 52.4% of agritourism farms have been within the same family for at least two generations and 73.3% are willing to pass the farm on to their children, proportions that are significantly higher than other entrepreneurial farms. Study results also show, however, that while many agritourism farms practice integrated pest management, they need to be more engaged in other environmentally friendly and conservation practices.

Agricultural Landscape Preferences: Implications for Agritourism Development

This study examines residents’ preferences for agricultural landscape features when engaging in agritourism activities by addressing two objectives: (1) to identify the features of agricultural landscapes that are more appealing to current and potential agritourists and (2) to compare those perceptions across respondents from different genders, agritourism experience, and agricultural attachment. Data were collected through an online survey conducted among three nonrandom panels of residents from Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas (250 per state). Results showed that respondents liked most landscape features commonly found in an agritourism farm, especially natural and cultural ones. Among these, the most preferred features they would like to see are wildlife, water resources, historic elements, and farm animals, suggesting that these can serve as farm pull attractions. Multivariate analyses of variance showed significant differences in landscape preferences across gender, levels of agritourism experience, and agricultural attachment, suggesting critical marketing and managing implications for farmers offering agritourism opportunities.

Recreational Multifunctionality and its implications for agroforestry diffusion

Recreational Multifunctionality refers to those farms providing at least one recreational service to members of the farm household or the public. Based on the types of recreational services offered, two types of landowners have been identified: Productivists and Ruralists. They differ on their extent of Recreational Multifunctionality, farm household attributes and farm representation. Both types of landowners also have different behavior and understanding of agroforestry. This study builds on the Recreational Multifunctionality construct to identify message content, channels and agencies that can better facilitate the diffusion of agroforestry. In 2006, 353 randomly selected landowners from Missouri were interviewed and clustered in two groups: Productivists (38.0%) and Ruralists (62.0%). These groups were examined to identify differences regarding their perceptions of being a good farmer (i.e., message content); their preferred source of information (i.e., communication channel); and their preferred agencies for learning purposes (i.e., communication agencies). Study results show differences between Productivists and Ruralists in all three aspects of diffusion examined (i.e., message content, channels and agencies), suggesting that all landowners should not be approached in the same way when promoting agroforestry. Messages conveyed to Productivists should emphasize the economic benefits of agroforestry, while messages to Ruralists should emphasize the conservation benefits of agroforestry. Touring farms with active tree management is a good way to disseminate agroforestry practices among Productivists while state and federal extension agents appear to be more suitable to approach Ruralists. Both groups can effectively be reached using printed materials, especially through official conservation magazines.

Motivations for recreating on farmlands, private forests, and state or national parks.

This study explores the importance of different motivations to visit three types of recreational settings—farms, private forests, and state or national parks. Data were collected via a mail-back questionnaire administered to a stratified random sample of households in Missouri (USA). Descriptive and inferential statistics reveal both similarities and discontinuities in motivations for visiting farms, private forests, and state or national parks for recreation. Being with family, viewing natural scenery, and enjoying the smells and sounds of nature were all highly important motivations for visiting the three types of settings. However, all 15 motivations examined were perceived to be significantly more important for visits to state or national parks than to farms or private forests. Findings suggest that individuals are more strongly motivated to recreate at state and national parks relative to farmlands or forests. Post hoc paired t tests comparing motivations between both agricultural settings (farms and private forests) revealed significant differences in eight different recreational motivations. Individuals tended to place more importance on the ability to use equipment and test their skills when considering recreating on private forests. Conversely, social motivations (e.g., doing something with the family) were more important when individuals were considering recreating on farmland. Collectively, the findings suggest individuals expect distinctly different outcomes from their visits to farmlands, private forests, or state or national parks. Consequently, all three types of recreational settings have competitive advantages that their managers could capitalize on when making decisions about how to attract new visitors or produce the most desirable experiences for current recreationists.

A socio-demographic examination of the perceived benefits of agroforestry

Abstract Agroforestry has been suggested to produce an array of ecological and socio-economic benefits that not only reach their adopters, but society as a whole. In spite of strong evidence of the benefits of agroforestry, there is a lack of understanding of the public perceptions of those benefits, which prevents the development of benefit-based promotion strategies of agroforestry products. Thus, this study examines the awareness of these benefits among residents and explores whether perceptions vary across individuals with different socio-demographic characteristics. An on-line platform was used to survey three panels of residents from Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas. Overall, respondents had a neutral perception of the importance of the ecological and socio-economic benefits that agroforestry farms provide to society when compared to farms employing conventional agricultural practices. These results stress the need to increase public awareness of agroforestry practices and their benefits to more strategically position their products among the final consumer. Gender, education level, and residence location were significantly associated with the perceived ecological benefits produced by agroforestry farms and to a lesser extent with the socio-economic benefits. Results also showed that females and young individuals have a greater awareness of several benefits produced by agroforestry farms. Critical marketing implications to stimulate the purchase of agroforestry products (e.g., berries, nuts) among specific groups of consumers are discussed.

Frequency of consumption, familiarity and preferences for chestnuts in Missouri

A study of frequency of consumption and familiarity with preparing chestnuts was conducted in the state of Missouri from 2003 to 2008. A conjoint analysis of chestnut attributes was completed in 2008 to expand on previous consumer preference research. Information from final consumers was collected during the annual Missouri Chestnut Roast festival at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center in New Franklin, Missouri. The study tracks changes in frequency of consumption and consumer familiarity with preparing chestnuts. The conjoint analysis evaluated pair-wise profiles to quantify the effects of origin, production process and price on consumer preferences. Results show improvements in the frequency of consumption and familiarity with cooking chestnuts in Missouri. Findings suggest the festival has influenced consumption patterns among return visitors. The conjoint analysis identified locality of produce and organic certification to be major drivers behind consumer preferences. Price is also an important attribute influencing consumer preferences. Conjoint analysis results indicate that chestnuts grown in Missouri or the U.S. carrying an organic label can capture price premiums.

Agritourism, Farm Visit, or . . . ? A Branding Assessment for Recreation on Farms

The demand and offer of recreational activities on farms has increased over the last decades and promises increased growth in the future because of the benefits it brings to farmers and visitors. Despite this growth, a breadth of names (e.g., agritourism, farm visit) are used interchangeably to depict this activity. Such inconsistency reflects a lack of industry branding which diminishes marketing effectiveness and hinders stakeholders’ collaboration. Therefore, a study was conducted to evaluate the Memorability, Distinctiveness, Relevance and Flexibility and overall preference of eight typical names associated with recreation on farms among farmers and visitors. The multimodal approach employed reveals that efforts are needed to standardize and diffuse a brand name for recreation on farms because of reduced Memorability. Although “Agritourism” appears suitable to brand recreation on farms given its Distinctiveness, Relevance, and Flexibility, results are inconclusive and call for further efforts for educating the public about its meaning.

The Influence of Agritourism on Niche Meats Loyalty and Purchasing

Although research has been increasing on agritourism, many questions remain. Studies have indicated that agritourism can bring both economic and noneconomic benefits to farmers and that sustainably raised agriculture products can lead to both health and environmental benefits. The current study explores the relationship between preferred meat attributes of the consumer (PMA), interest in visiting an agritourism farm (AI), and increased loyalty to a meat product or farm, termed the food system bond (FSB), among consumers in North Carolina, United States. Results indicate that (1) a preference for sustainable meat products has a positive influence on both interest in visiting a farm that raises livestock sustainably and on the food system bond and that (2) agritourism has a positive impact on the food system bond. This suggests the potential for agritourism to connect specialty consumers with niche farmers, increasing farm revenues, supporting sustainably raised agriculture, and fostering overall rural sustainability.

The potential for carbon offset trading to provide added incentive to adopt silvopasture and alley cropping in Missouri

Global carbon trading may present a unique opportunity to change the rural landscape by allowing landowners to make an environmental impact with financial incentives. By enticing point source polluters to trade to an optimal level of pollution by offsetting their emissions with compatible carbon reduction projects, markets are able to facilitate a cleaner environment. Agroforestry provides a set of practices that can sequester carbon with managed tree and crop plantings. However, the initial lack of financial resources has been an obstacle to its adoption in the United States. This paper explores the potential for carbon offset trading to provide an added incentive to adopt agroforestry practices. Chicago Climate Exchange carbon sequestration projects are used as a baseline assessment, and the requirements that Missouri landowners would need to do in terms of contracting and ownership are identified. Data from landowners in central Missouri and the Ozarks (353 individuals) are used to determine characteristics of potentially interested landowners in agroforestry. A model to evaluate agroforestry profitability scenarios is used to compare the added carbon credit trading revenue to traditional alternate uses for the property. The findings from this analysis indicate that in the current context carbon trading does not provide an added incentive value for Missouri landowners to adopt either silvopasture or alley cropping practices because of the low magnitude of annual return.