With commodity prices low, some farmers are turning to agritourism to make some extra money, according to the LSU AgCenter.
“Our farmers need to make every dollar they can,” says Rene Simon, director of marketing and agricultural economic development with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
But while agritourism businesses such as hunting tracts, pumpkin patches, corn mazes and fruit orchards can be profitable for farmers, they also carry liabilities that need to be managed. Farmers recently got tips on how they can protect themselves during a pair of workshops hosted by the LSU AgCenter in Rayne and Bossier City.
Rusty Rumley, a National Agricultural Law Center attorney, says the most dangerous agritourism business is a petting zoo because it can potentially expose children to E. coli bacteria. At least one death a year in the U.S. is attributed to petting zoos, he says. Liability insurance is available for such attractions, Rumley says, but separate policies are needed for general farm and agritourism operations.
Farmers can also form corporations to protect their agritourism businesses, but Rumley cautions against using an internet legal service to establish a corporation in Louisiana because of the complexity of the state’s civil code.
“I would be terrified to use that in Louisiana,” Rumley says.
The number of agritourism businesses in Louisiana shot up from 191 in 2007 to 361 in 2012, says Dora Ann Hatch, LSU AgCenter agritourism coordinator. Average sales for agritourism businesses during that time also jumped from $2,500 to roughly $9,000, she says.
