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3. 2026 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference

Empowering Agritourism Service Providers to Strengthen Regional Agritourism Training Programs

Doolarie Singh-Knights and Chadley Hollas

Summary

Farmers nationally are challenged with making farm-diversification decisions that shape the sustainability of their operations. AGRITOURISM - welcoming visitors to a WORKING agribusiness - is increasingly being used as a farm-diversification strategy for supplementing revenue, diversifying cash flow, increasing agricultural literacy, and leveraging shifting consumer demand. The 2022 USDA Census reports that combined agritourism experiences and direct sales yielded $4.5 billion in revenues to 140,000 farms/ranches.

Yet, many educators and practitioners still face persistent barriers: (1) fragmented, complex agritourism resources and (2) uneven regionally trained Agritourism Service Providers (ATSPs) with the appropriate skills-set to effectively support agritourism. Additionally, the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both significant opportunities and challenges for educators/practitioners. Agritourism decision-making is inherently situation-specific - “one size does not fit all”. Accessing generic public information with AI for technical advice may be unintentionally inaccurate and may potentially displace “localized experts”.

In response, the National Holistic Agritourism Training Toolbox is being developed to bring resources together in a “one-stop-shop”, combining vetted “traditional” resources (best-practice guides/factsheets, case studies, risk management tools) and AI-powered navigation capabilities to help users effectively navigate and apply appropriate context-specific risk-management best-practices.

Presenters will outline the core “agritourism ecosystem” modules and curated resources comprising the National Holistic Agritourism Training Toolbox, including generative AI-capabilities for localized support. Attendees will understand the project’s technical resources and its applicability to their locality, how ATSP capacity-building is being operationalized to strengthen regional agritourism ecosystems, and be invited to provide feedback and/or participate as pilot partners in the training program.

Details

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