From growing prices to increasing wages, New York state farmers are going through a difficult time. But many are working hard to find new ways to make ends meet.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County hosted an agritourism workshop at Navarino Orchard to discuss how the concept can help grow local businesses.
"Anybody that's producing food and making the production of that food something people can come and see and experience, that all qualifies as agritourism," said David Skeval, the executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County.
That includes everything from wine tasting and apple picking to tractor rides and petting zoos.
Nathan Williams is the president of Dutch Hill Maple in Tully, a small business that started in 1968.
"It was always a family tradition. My Dad and my brother and I making syrup in Dad's sugar house,” he said.
Williams said growing the company’s brand through agritourism is one of the most important things he does. He said fuel and equipment prices have almost doubled in a very short amount of time, while Dutch Hill Maple works hard to keep the prices of their products down. Inviting the public teaches them there’s more to maple than what’s on top of their pancakes.
"We do tours where we can show people what the sugar bush looks like, show our tubing system and our equipment and really just learn the process of maple,” said Williams.
Skeval said those kinds of educational activities play a crucial role in the survival of local farms.
"We've got to be educated about this because this is what feeds us,” Skeval said. “It's one of the five things we absolutely need to survive, and we've got to take more of a sense of stewardship towards it."
And he said Cornell Cooperative Extension is partnering with Visit Syracuse to make sure agritourism plays a role as Onondaga County grows.
"(We want) to basically deliver to those that are coming to our county or through our county the road less traveled, so rather than getting frustrated on 81, 481, take a side road and go see some of our agritourism businesses, and enjoy the trip through Onondaga County,” he said.
