Farms, orchards, plantations becoming tourist attractions

Monday, April 5th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Generations after their ancestors gave up farming in search of a better life in the city, growing numbers of Americans are seeking out their rural roots and the countryside's simple pleasures.

Their eagerness to milk a cow, wander through a cornfield maze or pick their own apples is fueling a trend called agritourism, which gives farmers a way to supplement their income at the same time it gives city folk a new outdoors experience.

Molly Ling, a corporate librarian in New York City, visits Keepsake Orchards in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband, Alfred, and their three sons to pick their own apples.

Ling said her sons _ ages 11, 13 and 6 _ are growing up in an apartment and are thoroughly urbanized. One boy even refused for years to go barefoot on grass, but visiting the orchard has changed that.

``The apple orchards they like because it's fun _ you're outside, you're in the country and it's really beautiful, it smells good and they can throw apples at each other and climb trees,'' said Ling, 45.

Many states are tapping into the public's yearning for a taste of country life as part of their rural development efforts. By tying several attractions together in packages _ such as fruit orchards, state parks, a farm tour and antique stores _ they hope people hang around long enough to stop and spend at other local businesses.

``It's a little bit history, a little bit education. A lot of our folks in the city are a generation or two removed from their rural roots,'' said Roy Ballard, a Purdue University agricultural extension specialist who works in southeastern Indiana.

``This gives them a chance to look back at what maybe their own parents, or even their grandparents, never experienced.''

Indiana officials realized a few years ago that just as people want to tour California's vineyards, they're also interested in Midwestern farms, said Greg Bedan, the Indiana Tourism Council's international marketing manager.

He said one popular new attraction is the northern Indiana Fair Oaks Dairy Adventure, with 15,000 acres and 16,000 cows that offers public tours.

``They take you through the whole process of how a dairy farm operates and they have a cheese factory at the end where you can buy cheese,'' Bedan said.

Indiana is compiling county-by-county lists of agri-destinations. North Carolina last year created an office dedicated to agritourism.

Officials in other states are working to cultivate agritourism destinations around their traditional crops. Even Hawaii is getting into the act, by planning a railway for visitors to tour a sugarcane plantation on Kauai.

Agritourism is nothing new _ dude ranches have been around for decades and in some states a handful of farms have offered working holidays for years. The concept also is popular in Europe.

A 2001 survey by the U.S. Forest Service found that 62 million Americans visited a farm or a ranch that year, said Jane Eckert, a St. Louis-based consultant who helps farmers come up with ideas for marketing their farms to the public. Her own family operates a fruit orchard, restaurant and country store in southwestern Illinois.

It's hard work, Eckert said.

``The family really has to be ready and willing for someone else to come to their property,'' she said. ``What they're essentially doing is opening their barn doors and inviting people onto their property.''

In southeastern Indiana's Clark County, Joe Huber Sr.'s family got into agritourism _ long before someone coined the phrase _ in 1966 when they planted fields of pick-your-own strawberries and green beans.

Their venture has grown into Joe Huber Family Farm & Restaurant, near the town of Starlight, about 15 miles north of Louisville, Ky. The farm has a 400-seat restaurant featuring country specialties, a farmer's market, gardens and ponds.

Down the road, Huber's cousin operates a vineyard, winery, bakery, petting zoo and cheese factory. Both farms attract visitors year-round.

Huber, 70, said his family's business strategy is simple: ``It's our family entertaining your family. That's our goal here.''