Agtourism Conference Announcement and Agenda

Hawaii Agtourism a Featured Topic
Farmers Open Gates to Tourism Industry, Pacific Business News Article

Hawaii Agtourism a Featured Topic at Agriculture Conference 2002

The recent Agriculture Conference 2002 on October 24 on Oahu included two panels on Hawaii Agtourism. Approximately 300 people attended the conference at the Sheraton Waikiki, titled "Changing Times: Creating Opportunities in Agriculture."

The conference was presented by the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii, the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.For more information, see http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ctahr2001/AgConference/

Following are reports on the two panels focused on agtourism.

"Farmers and Chefs: Savor the Taste with a Sense of Place"
The farmer-chef panel included Dr. John Ikerd, advocate of sustainable agriculture and professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, Joan Namkoong, food editor for Honolulu Magazine (and formerly food editor for the Honolulu Advertiser), Chef Peter Merriman of Merriman’s Restaurant (Waimea) and the Hula Grill (Lahina), and Dean Okimoto of Nalo Farms. Together they provided a comprehensive outline of what chefs need from farmers, what farmers expect from chefs, and the benefits and costs for both in working closely together.

Agricultural leader and rancher Monty Richards was honored at the conference luncheon with more than 500 community leaders attending. Senator Daniel K. Inouye and agricultural leaders praised Monty for his many years of successful innovation and leadership benefiting agriculture and the state, and described his many accomplishments. The senior senator went on to speak of the history and future of agriculture in our state.

"Agtourism: Creating On-Farm Experiences"
The farm visits panel included Monty Richards of Kahua Ranch, Gus Brocksen of Pele Plantation (coffee farm) in Kona, Dr. Cathy Chan-Halbrendt, associate dean and associate director for research at the University of Hawaii's CTAHR, and Brent Warner of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries in British Columbia, Canada. Warner is a co-author of a recent book, Marketing on the Edge, and he showed participants the diverse ways farmers throughout North America are connecting to consumers through agtourism.

The following article on the “Farm visits” agtourism panel appeared in the Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - November 4, 2002. See http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2002/11/04/story5.html
(Reprinted from the November 1, 2002 print edition)

Farmers Open Gates to Tourism Industry
by Prabha Natarajan
Pacific Business News

"Celebrate agriculture" is the new mantra, especially on the Big Island.
The island's umpteen ranches and coffee and macadamia nut farms are opening their gates to tourists while organizations map "Kona Coffee Country" into something resembling a Napa Valley-like wine tour.

The idea of agriculture tourism has gained currency over the past few years with small and big farms alike. For instance, Parker Ranch hopes to have equal revenue from tourism and ranching operations. And the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival lists 44 small mom-and-pop coffee operations over a 16-mile stretch from Kailua-Kona to Honaunau in its recently released "Kona Coffee Country" map.

Most farms are jumping on the agriculture tourism bandwagon primarily because it's a new way to increase farm revenues and help balance the ups and downs of the produce market. Sales to tourists create a new market for locally grown products and a potential long-term Internet clientele.

However, farmers are finding out that the road to agriculture tourism can be as bumpy as any country road.

"Farmers find that ag tourism minimizes risks and increases profits," said Cathy Chan-Halbrendt, associate dean and associate director for research at the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

"We have high costs in this business, but we also have more than 7 million tourists visiting the state," she said. "We are not bringing more people; these tourists are already here and we are educating these people on where they get their food from and asking them to support agriculture."

A study conducted by CTAHR researchers and the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service found that 126 Hawaii farms offered ag tourism in 2000. That was 2.3 percent of all the farms in Hawaii. And those 126 farms recorded $26 million in revenue from such activities, with an average revenue of $206,690 per farm.

The Big Island led the ag tourism market with 60 farms offering tourist activities. Maui had 31 farms, Oahu 19 and Kauai 16. The study found that bigger operations, especially ranching and livestock operations, get higher revenue than produce-growing farms. However, off-farm sales or continued sales to visitors after they leave the farm was reported by 48 percent of the smaller produce farms. Farmers offer educational programs, on-farm sales, entertainment and outdoor recreational activities.

Many of the small farms that dot the Kona coast are mom-and-pop operations, whose owners can spare only a day or two from their busy workweek to conduct tours. Gus Brocksen, owner of Pele Plantations on the Big Island, who calls himself the "head bean," offers a once-a-week tour of his coffee and macadamia nut plantation.

"We never really know how many people we will get — it could be one carful or 15 cars," Brocksen said.

These days, the Brocksens offer tours by appointment only, which include a tour of the farm, then of the coffee-processing and roasting operations.

"It's a significant revenue boost to us," Brocksen said. "On an average, it adds about 15 to 20 percent to our total sales. In addition — there is no way of measuring this — we get repeat business from mainland visitors and those who join our coffee club after a tour."
Getting into the tourist business is not a simple step for farmers.

"Liability insurance is a big problem," said Dr. Kent Fleming, a CTAHR professor in farm management and extension economist. "Farms offer low-risk activities but they still need to have some kind of coverage and there's not a lot out there to choose from."
Next on the list of problem areas are county rules and zoning regulations. Each county has its own set of restrictions. For instance, bed and breakfasts were illegal on the Big Island until a recent decision to change that.

"There is a move to change some of the rules, but it's slow going," Fleming said. "Counties are not used to ag tourism and it's taking time to educate them."

Further, many farms are on leased land, and owners impose their own regulations as well.
Apart from these, investing in expansion of farm operations still remains an issue. Farmers can avail themselves of loans but find that it takes a tidy sum to improve facilities, farm buildings and retail operations to meet visitor expectations.

"Not all working farms are clean and tidy, and it costs extra money to maintain facilities," Fleming said. "But the benefits far exceed the investment."

Also, farmers are paying and learning to set up and operate a Web-based sales operation to retain customers from the mainland and elsewhere, said Richard Bowen, CTAHR extension specialist in sustainable agriculture.

To help farmers learn the steps and processes involved, CTAHR organizes workshops and conferences on ag tourism. Also, an association promotes the state's agricultural resources to tourists worldwide.

"Hawaii is not yet considered to be an agriculture-tourism destination," Fleming said. "Visitors hear of it after they come here. We need people to come to Hawaii to see our farms or at least say that's one of the reasons they come to Hawaii. There's a lot of room for expansion — like start a tour with one or two Kona coffee farms, visit a restaurant that serves locally grown produce, visit a fruit farm, vanilla or cocoa farm, and then a historical farm. We need to get a critical mass to make it work."