# agri - business



## DKWunlimited (Sep 11, 2006)

I took my children to the local pumpkin patch today and it has really got me thinking..

The place was 25 acres of not a heck of a lot... They had a cornfield maze which was not very tall, it covered 3 acers but it was not tall enough to even get lost in it. they had a straw bale maze.. again, not real big, and they had a wooden maze made out of pallets... they had a big trailer behind a tractor for hay rides to get you out to the mazes. Pony rides for kids under 75 pounds Petting zoo of goats, donkeys, sheep and lamasa.. buckets of food were $5. for the kids to feed the animals. And they had an area spread out with pie pumpkins. (they do not grow them there, they buy them from someone else) It was $6.00 per person and for that you got to do all the activities and take 1 pumpkin home with you.

I was talking to the owner and he said they AVERAGE 500 people per day, 5 days a week. They are only open to the public until 6pm each day because nights are private parties.. company picnics, weddings, birthdays etc..

Has anyone done any checking into liability insurance for something like this? This is run by a husband and wife, who hire local teenagers and retirees part time.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

What my liability insurance is might be totally different than what you'd pay for you in your area. Call your insurance agent and ask them what it'd be. Here for u pick or any sort of on farm thing would be a minimum of $1,000,000 coverage. We have it and it doesn't cost much - we have Kentucky Farm Bureau insurance and all our insurance is with one agent.

Couldn't hurt to check - and it's mostly cash money and you'd be done in (maybe) a 2 month period. Something to think about.......


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

Like luvrulz said, $1,000,000 insurance policy really isn't much per year. I build swimming pools and even mine is only around $2,800 a year. I have been thinking about this myself. It seems like a really nice way to incorporate the kids into a home based business. We have relatives with a u-cut christmas tree farm and they do huge business on only a few acres for about one month a year and don't do too much to the trees the rest of the year, plus they sell things like wreaths and pumpkin bread at check out.


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## everett (Jul 1, 2008)

Our goal is to start a small homestead / farm where we also rent out a few small cabins so people from the city can come and have a quite, peaceful, down-to-earth "farm vacation". It's great for families (as a child of the city I would have loved to have gone to a farm for a vacation when I was young) or for couples (my wife and I spent our honeymoon at a place like this) and the agri-tourism business is growing fast. If you already have a business like this please share your story with me/us because we're very serious about this goal. Also, feel free to comment at the site linked to above and I'll give you a free listing with a link to your website. Just mention that you're from the forums here.

Regarding insurance, of course it will depend a lot on the laws in your particular state. For instance, in North Carolina (where we want to set up shop) you are no liable for injuries from things like horse rides (as long as you post the sign) which significantly reduces your rates if you offer such activities.


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## MorrisonCorner (Jul 27, 2004)

You want to call your Oklahoma Agricultural Extension Agency and see if they've got someone who interfaces with Travel and Tourism. Here in VT there is a whole little set o' desks down to the state offices and their job is to make Little Agriculture and Tourism come together. They appear at every major Ag event with a booth and have a whole manual, start to finish, of How To Set Up Your Agri-Tourism Business.

In fact, if you google "Vermont Farms" you'll find one of their websites.

I'll tell you what is most helpful about this little branch of government... it stopped us from making the mistake of going the agri-tourism direction. About chapter 3 where they were laying out the sanitation requirements and a few other details we decided the infrastructure was not going to be worth the potential income. 

I have an advantage over most of you... I've been in tourism for 3 decades and handled group tours for 2. I speak from experience when I tell you that most visitors to a farm will look, touch, use the bathroom... and buy nothing. So unless you're charging admission (and most farms don't) it is very hard to make income on that farm visit. What most farms in this area would be hoping for would be post-visit sales and name recognition. Community warm fuzzies, that sort of thing.

The money, if you can establish one, is in the Farm Stay, or B&B type operation. Maybe camping on premises. But the flat out "go pat the animals" experience does not appear to be profitable.


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## everett (Jul 1, 2008)

MorrisonCorner said:


> The money, if you can establish one, is in the Farm Stay, or B&B type operation.


I couldn't agree more. I've been following the agritourism industry for a few years now while saving and planning for my own business and this is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to hotels, motels and typical tourist traps.

Cities are losing their urban areas to suburban sprawl and more children than ever are growing up out of touch with nature. This is only going to get worse. If you have a farm that is situated close enough to a tourist destination, but far enough to not be caught in the tourist trap there is a great opportunity here. Couples want to spend some quite time together and get their "country" fix in away from the office and technology. Kids want to run around the farm and pet the animals.

For crying out loud, kids these days can identify more LOGOS than plants and animals: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRR1feHqZPY[/ame] !

Now if you can add some educational elements to your venture your chances of success are even better. Canning classes, teaching kids how to milk cows, cheesemaking, general farming skills, etc... You could also tap into the school and church field trip markets. Not to mention homesteading classes, which people will pay thousands for in some cases.


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2008)

On TV a while back they had a story about this couple who had been corn farmers for years and years, but their profit had shrunk to nothing. So they got the idea to make a maze in their cornfield and charge admission. It worked. They have so many people coming out during their growing season that they're making money again.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I think it is a good idea.

I would start small, and grow it each year. The most successful in our area started small, but focused on quality and the customer experience.

The best tourist farms have really perfected the best situations. This would include spending time with seed dealers finding the tallest corn for your maze, and planting it with a high population rate per acre. Planting time would also be critical for peak time when your maze would be open.

Once the basic attractions were perfected, the successful tourist farms have added new features, and haven't been afraid to reinvest their profits in upgrading to enhance the customer experience.

The worst tourist farms I have seen tried to be too big, offer too much, and be too many things to too many people. They have forged ahead without the quality and have poorly managed their peak times with far too few employees that are just high school kids that don't care.

I know of one tourist farm that failed miserably, run by kids that didn't care, and the services and products that were offered, well, were poor by any standard.

Give good value, and treat people with the upmost care, and the world will line your pockets with cash.

Clove


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