Louisiana Agritourism: Christmas Tree Farms

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Christmas Tree Farms

Now is the time to start planning a trip to a nearby Christmas tree farm. For assistance in locating a tree farm in our area, simply log onto the Internet and explore these Web sites: www.christmastrees.org and www.southernchristmastrees.org

Recently, I have had the opportunity to tour two beautiful Christmas tree farms in two parts of our state. In September I visited Grant Christmas Tree Farm near Pitkin. This fun, and entertaining farm not only has Christmas trees but also has a syrup mill and agritourism activities for school age children. Check out their Web site: www.grantchristmastree.com

Mollie and Gray Anderson, owners of the Grant Christmas Tree Farm, hosted the Southern Christmas Tree Association Meeting in September of 2009. As a participant of the meeting, I shared information on how to market trees. The association meeting included Christmas tree farmers from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Bentley and Sandy Curry, owners of Curry Farms in Start, also attended the meeting. In October, I visited Bentley and Sandy and had the opportunity to wander through their trees, admire their goat walk, and go down the hay slide. What fun, my friend, Mary Ann, and I had on that trip. Their Web site is: www.curryfarms.net

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Agritourism Law Limits Liability

In 2008, the Louisiana Legislature expanded the limitation of liability found in La R.S. 9:2795 et seq to include certain agritourism activities. The legislation authored by Representative Andy Anders and Senators Francis Thompson and Mike Walsworth provides that the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Foresty (LDAF) will develop a set of rules and regulations and that the LSU AgCenter will define a “plan of operation” for an agritourism venture and review those plans.

More about this law can be found on the LSU AgCenter Web site: www.lsuagcenter.com/agritourism

2012 Agriculture Census Shows Increase in Farming

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2014 –There are now 3.2 million farmers operating 2.1 million farms on 914.5 million acres of farmland across the United States, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Once every five years, farmers, ranchers and growers have the unique opportunity to let the world know how U.S. agriculture is changing, what is staying the same, what’s working and what we can do differently,” said Dr. Cynthia Clark, the retiring head of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which administered the survey.

Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
Principal operators were on average 58.3 years old and were predominantly male; second operators were slightly younger and most likely to be female; and third operators were younger still.
In Louisiana agritourism grew from 170 farms in 2007 to 361 farms in 2012.
In Louisiana onfarm agritourism sales jumped from $2,486 to $8,996 in 2012.
In Louisiana the definition of agritourism is broader than the definition in the census; meaning that numbers are greater.