CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY TOPICS - ucanr.edural beauty, cultural or other local activities, easy access, and basic amenities. California is a state where natural beauty abounds, agriculture

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY TOPICS

No. 7 April 2001 Human and Community Development UC Davis, CA 95616

California Community Topics, an occasional publication series of the California Communities Program (CCP),provides useful information to citizens and local leaders about important issues of community governance,leadership, and economic development. The CCP is a statewide unit of the University of California’s Divisionof Agriculture and Natural Resources, with applied research and outreach responsibilities. It is housed by theDepartment of Human and Community Development, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, atUC Davis. David Campbell is director of the CCP. He may be reached at (530) 754-4328; FAX 752-5855;E-Mail [email protected].

This publication may be duplicated for distributionproviding full CCP information at the top of this page is included.

Farm stays in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and else-where in the world have proven to be an effective meansof maintaining and revitalizing rural areas. Their de-velopment has played a key role in the increased eco-nomic viability of many small farms as well as encour-aging landscape conservation. Countries with an estab-lished farm stay network have a steady stream of visitorsupply and demand as well as a large degree of supportfrom various tourist entities. Although each country isdifferent, commonalities such as government support,an infrastructure to facilitate reservations plus easy ac-cess to sites help foster success. In general, a rural areaneeds to have qualities that attract tourists such as natu-ral beauty, cultural or other local activities, easy access,and basic amenities. California is a state where naturalbeauty abounds, agriculture is a major economic playerwith a rich history, and accessibility is not a problem.We have the resources needed to realize the potentialbenefits of farm stays, but farm stay tourism in Califor-nia is very much in its infancy.

During research conducted in the summer of 2000, 16growers were interviewed about their farm stay activi-ties. The interview process consisted of 2 surveys (onefilled out by the farmer and the other filled in by theinterviewer) and follow up questions. Most of the in-terviews included a tour of the farm and the lodgings,which helped in assessing the style and theme of thefarm stay, as well as the targeted clientele. The samplebegan to form using connections made through the State-wide Agriculture and Nature Tourism Workgroup (or-ganized by the UCD Small Farm Center, and funded bythe Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources).

Cultivating Farm Stays in CaliforniaJanet Momsen, Professor

Jill Donaldson, Research AssistantDepartment of Human and Community Development

University of California, Davis

Using a snowball technique, we asked those interviewedfor referrals. Additionally, various sites on the internetwere trawled for information.

What is a Farm Stay?

In California, this is virtually an unknown term, and ter-minology has proven to be somewhat problematic inthe study of agricultural tourism. For clarification wewill refer to farm stays as “using guest accommodationprovided on a small farm where the primary enterpriseis agriculture.” In order to be included in this study, thefarm had to conform with this definition. Consequently,large-scale corporate farms and dude ranches were notincluded in the sample. It should be noted however,that the above definition is very general and that varia-tions used in different countries and regions tend to bemuch more specific. Terminology is discussed in moredepth below.

Potential Benefits of Farm Stays

There must be clear advantages of farm stays in orderfor this type of tourism to gain widespread support.Concrete rewards are as follows:

1. Low impact and direct interactions. Farm stay tour-ism is small scale and dispersed thus minimizing theimpact of visitors on the local community. The natureof the host/guest relationship encourages the tourist notto act irresponsibly or be overly belligerent as he or shewill have to answer directly to the owner of the prop-erty. Furthermore, farmers choose when they accept

tourists and how many, often scaling back during theharvest or at the time of family holidays. Finally, farmstays allow for direct exchanges between the providerand the consumer, lessening the need for middlemen withthe associated loss of potential income.

2. Diversification. Diversification of farm income helpsto ensure a steadier cash flow, and to lessen the depen-dence upon agricultural market price fluctuations. Ad-ditionally, this allows the farm family to maximize theuse of the farm in terms of outbuildings, landscape, andavailable labor. The increased financial stability providedby a diversified income makes it less likely that farmerswill feel the need to leave the land in search of bettereconomic conditions.

3. Preservation of farmland and cultural heritage. Farmstays can assist in the preservation of cultural heritageby helping to discourage rural migration and by encour-aging farmers to continue to use their land for produc-tion instead of selling it to developers, especially if theyare located near an urban center. The fact that localtraditions and a country way of life are seen as a part ofthe tourist lure provides further incentive to retain thosefeatures unique to each area.

4. Environmental conservation. Viewed as some of thebest caretakers of the land, small farmers have the moti-vation to care for its physical appearance and to lookafter the land’s overall health in order to help keep theacreage viable and productive. Again, the desire to at-tract tourists encourages farmers to protect the rural land-scape.

5. Rural urban interaction. Farmers express a great in-terest in educating their urban guests, realizing that it isin their best interest to do so. By learning where theirfood comes from and experiencing a rural way of life,the voting city dweller will hopefully depart with a newappreciation and respect for food systems, agriculturalissues, land concerns, and rural heritage. Another sidebenefit of this communication is the tendency of theurbanite to recognize the value of patronizing local pro-ducers and purchasing what value-added food or craftitems might be available. Finally, there are generallyenjoyable social exchanges to be had on both sides.

Trends and Perspectives

Within the very broad specifications of Californian farmstays, patterns have emerged. The following is a brief

overview of the data from the sample survey focusingon issues surrounding terminology, marketing, and themain challenges to farm stay tourism in California.

Characteristics of the sample group

The sample group consists of 5 ranches (cattle and tim-ber), 5 farms (apples, dairy, honey, ostrich, and almonds),and 6 wineries (vineyards and wineries). Each of thegrowers has their own unique attraction and target mar-ket, and there is a wide range in the type of accommo-dations, price range, activities, and atmosphere. It isuseful to make a distinction between wine-related farmstays and all others when considering the data. The goalsof the two groups differ somewhat, although both groupslisted additional income, raising awareness, and demandfor their product as major goals. Wineries were espe-cially keen to use farm stays as a marketing technique.The farm and ranch category put much more emphasison preservation of farmland, enhancement of sustain-able farming practices, and especially educating thepublic.

Half of the 16 survey respondents consider themselvesto be Bed & Breakfasts, and market themselves as such.In fact, most of those interviewed did not consider them-selves “farm stays,” largely because they were unfamil-iar with the concept and the parameters of the term. Thisis an important point as it shows the motivation to pro-vide accommodation, but within the already establishedinstitution of Bed & Breakfasts. There are numerousreasons for this, foremost being that the Bed & Break-fast circuit is well known and it is a very popular ac-commodation type in this state. The general publicknows how to find them and what to expect upon ar-rival. Additionally, there are a number of Bed & Break-fast associations offering support to the provider. Infor-mation about virtually all aspects of owning and operat-ing a Bed & Breakfast is readily available from variousorganizations, and standards are well recognized for theofficial seal of approval. Networking among Bed &Breakfast establishments is very common also, withmany sharing ideas and referring their overflow to oth-ers within their network.

Terminology and marketing

Currently in California, the parameters of farm stays arevery wide as people are unfamiliar with the term andbecause no formal standards exist. In essence, the maindifferences between farm stays and Bed & Breakfast

inns are the amount of contact with the provider and theopportunity to have a farm experience. A Farm StayBill, AB 1258, successfully passed the State Assemblylast year. This allows farms fitting the criteria to be sub-jected to less strict health and safety regulations and toserve meals throughout the day, making it a great dealeasier to attract people into secluded areas where otherfood outlets and restaurants are not easily accessible.

Californians seem to be generally more amenable to theidea of a rural holiday than that of a farm holiday. “Ru-ral” sounds more active, and involving nature and theoutdoors, than “farm” which sounds more like work,and perhaps not as adventurous. In comparison to Eu-rope, Californians tend to have a much lower apprecia-tion of the cultivated landscape. The more commonnotion of a rural holiday being that of visiting a nationalor state park, camping, partaking in sporting activities,or getting away to a secluded Bed & Breakfast. Thelack of public knowledge about farm stays as a viableholiday option has led to some creative and successfulmarketing tactics on the part of the farmers.

Examples of nonagricultural ways farmers have enticedpeople to stay on their farm include offering cookingclasses, hosting special meals such as winemaker din-ners and pizza nights, running seasonal hunting opera-tions, language schools, cattle drives, and horsebackriding. Of course farmers capitalized on nearby touristattractions such as wine tasting, the Gold Country, birdwatching, and state or national parks. All of these meth-ods have worked well for those utilizing them showingthat in order for a farm stay to be successful, a numberof activities should be available to keep the guests busy.Most of the growers interviewed, many of whom havestrong repeat business, are fairly happy with their vol-ume of tourists, with some operating at capacity.

Obstacles to the Development of Farm Stays

Clearly, the first and foremost difficulty is the generallack of awareness and subsequent acceptance of farmstays as a tourism genre. Ignorance on the part of thetourism industry and local governments can pose a ma-jor barrier since frequently these are the people whowould be expected to play a critical role in advertising,setting trends, and raising public awareness. Unlikecountries with an established farm stay tradition, Cali-fornia offers scant governmental support in the form ofsubsidies, informational workshops, etc. At the presenttime, there is no central clearing house of information

for either the farmer or the tourist, and a comprehensivelist of farm stays has yet to be compiled (although thisis currently underway), making the dissemination ofinformation difficult.

It is common for farmers to show a less than enthusias-tic reception to the whole idea of becoming a touristdestination. Many are highly independent and privatepeople, and they understandably are reluctant to beginproviding tourist accommodation in their homes or ontheir property. They certainly are not overly familiarwith the general concept of farm stays per se. Privacyand family harmony are major issues in the decisionmaking process of whether to set up farm stay facilities.

When a farmer has decided to begin farm stay tourism,he or she is confronted with a number of challenges.The first likely concern is obtaining information abouthow to start. There is little start-up information avail-able in California right now, and this is one of the rea-sons why many growers follow the Bed & Breakfastmodel. Once the decision has been made to begin afarm stay, the farmer must figure out how to navigatethe legal domain. This can be exceedingly difficult orrelatively easy, depending on their county of residenceand how personally astute they are in these matters.Some other concerns include insurance and labor issues,marketing, and community receptiveness.

Obtaining all the necessary permits and complying withlocal regulations are most often the biggest roadblocksin getting things started. Each county has its own zon-ing laws, planning regulations, and health departmentand building codes, all of which are both subordinate tostate laws and subject to change depending on the po-litical climate (Fulton 1999). In counties with Coop-erative Extension Advisors who are supportive of farm-ers and tourism, establishing a farm stay is feasible. Thishas led to a cluster-like development of farm stays bycounty. This cluster development seems to be furtherencouraged by the existence of a supportive commu-nity with an established tourist trade or a network ofBed & Breakfasts. On the other hand in a county likeNapa, which has taken an early role in managing tour-ism, getting permission for farm stay facilities is muchmore difficult.

The fact that many of the fundamental start up issuesare regulated by individual counties makes it very diffi-cult to generalize about the situation in California. Set-ting up statewide networks is exceedingly challenging

when the conditions vary to such a high degree. This isa severely limiting factor to the farm stay industry as awhole since navigating the county regulations are prob-ably the biggest obstacle, after the lack of public knowl-edge. However, one can be optimistic. The bed & break-fast industry has had to deal with many of the same bar-riers and it is clear that they are now an extremely suc-cessful and vital component of tourism in California.

Resources

Currently there are some new developments occurringwhich will serve to spur the growth of farm stays. TheCABBI (California Association of Bed and BreakfastInns) web site has created a new category specificallyfor farm stays. This web site targets tourists and shouldincrease awareness and help bring business to the listedfarm stays. On the whole, more farmers are expressinginterest in exploring farm stays as an option. In response,one particularly proactive rancher, also involved in theAgricultural and Nature Tourism Workgroup, has takenthe lead in supporting this trend by communicating withCABBI and encouraging them in their formal inclusionof farm stays. The rancher was involved with the evo-lution of the AB 1258 bill, and put together an informa-tional workshop aimed at farmers to help them throughthe start up process. Others are sure to follow.There are ongoing research and promotional effortswithin universities and among Cooperative ExtensionAdvisors, mostly directed at agritourism as a whole, butwhich also shed light specifically on farm stays. Thepreviously mentioned Statewide Agriculture and NatureTourism Workgroup, chaired by Desmond Jolly, direc-tor of the Small Farm Center, has been successful in

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bringing together a diverse group of participants rang-ing from farmers to academics, and private consultantsto state and local governmental representatives. Thisgroup continues to expand as word of its existencespreads and has secured enough funding to sponsor regu-lar conferences and meetings while conducting ongo-ing research projects. The UC Davis Small Farm Cen-ter has a good deal of helpful information and links onits web site. Also, Dr. Ellie Rilla, Cooperative Exten-sion Director in Marin County, has been instrumental inraising farm stay awareness.

In order to make farm stays a more viable method ofdiversification for growers and a known tourist optionin California, the above developments must be expanded.Educating farmers about what exactly needs to be donein order to begin, as well as making the public aware ofthe possibility of a farm stay for future vacations, areboth necessary. Standardization of terminology is a keyfactor as well, especially when dealing with public per-ceptions and expectations. Organizations such as FarmTrails, tourist publications, travel agents, and travelshows have huge advertising potential and play a majorrole in public opinion. Research efforts and informa-tion gathering must continue, and most critically, thereis a need for clear and regular communication betweenthe above mentioned stakeholders to create increasedmomentum.

References

Fulton, William. 1999. Guide to California Planning.Solano Press Books: Point Arena, CA.