Revisiting the International Workshop on Agritourism

September 1, 2023

This week marks one year since we had the exciting honor of hosting 350 agritourism scholars and practitioners from around the world here in Vermont, and another 150 virtually, for the International Workshop on Agritourism (IWA). From August 30 – September 1, 2022, participants joined together to share and learn about agritourism and visit some of the amazing farms, food, and working lands businesses here in in our state. Many Vermont farmers and food systems professionals had the opportunity to join in person. 

While there is an international conference on agritourism every other year, it is unlikely to be held in the states again for quite some time. However, there are many continuing opportunities to learn and connect through this global network of agritourism professionals. Here’s how you can learn more and get involved: 

1. Relive the IWA Sessions. A recording of every session from last year’s IWA (except for the farm visits) is available on YouTube. You can watch sessions on hospitality and customer service on the farm, supporting farm viability through agritourism, risk management, promoting edible rural landscapes, embracing traditional knowledge through agritourism, online tools to enhance your educational impact, creative marketing for agritourism, and much, much more. 

   • Watch sessions from Day 1 here. 

   • Watch sessions from Day 2 here. 

   • Watch sessions from Day 3 here. 

2. Dive into the conference proceedings. The conference proceedings publication is intended to increase access to the scholarship that was shared during the conference. It contains 26 peer-reviewed papers, which are grouped into nine topic areas: literature review, policy, ecosystem, entrepreneurship, success factors, customer experience, education of agritourism operators, case studies, and project/program documentation.

   • Read the proceedings here. 

3. Join the Global Agritourism Network. Another outcome of the IWA was the formation of the Global Agritourism Network (GAN), which aims to enhance the capacity of agritourism worldwide. GAN officially launched through a virtual meeting on April 11, 2023. There will be regular meetings of the entire global network, in addition to a wide variety of regional and topical subcommittees.

   • Join GAN here. 

   • Watch a recording of the April 11th launch meeting here. 

   • Watch the first North American subcommittee meeting here. 

4. Explore the agritourism webinar series. The IWA was originally set to take place in Vermont in 2020 but was postponed twice due to the pandemic. During that time, the conference coordinators released a series of webinars on agritourism-related topics including marketing your farm, agritourism and wellness, culinary innovation on the farm, innovative ways to sell direct-to-consumer, and more. 

   • Watch the webinar series here (sort by “oldest” to see the webinar videos at the top). 

5. Continue to follow along with this blog! After this week, the Marketing & Agritourism Blog will shift from biweekly to monthly, but don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere! Make sure you’re subscribed to the Agricultural Development Newsletter so you never miss a post, and please feel free to reach out with feedback on the blog, or topics you’d like us to address! We’d love to hear from you: Kristen.Brassard@Vermont.gov.