Food Systems, Nutrition Security, and Agriculture

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development conducts original research with its partners and connects faculty and Extension educators in the region with one another and to national collaborators and resources, thereby creating synergies and reducing duplication of effort. The four goals of this multi-state Hatch project are approved by the NERCRD’s Board of Directors’ and are to:

• Build regional capacity and facilitate the integration of research and outreach.
• Support rural economic development and entrepreneurship, and innovation.
• Facilitate tourism development, including agritourism.
• Measure and promote food and nutrition security.

If you are interest in participating in this regional research project, please contact Stephan Goetz.

Funding Agency: Northeast Regional Association of Experiment Station Directors

Principal Investigator: Stephan J. Goetz, Penn State/NERCRD

Start Date: October 2024   End Date: September 2029

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Agritourism activity has the potential not only to keep small- and medium-sized farms in business but also to provide important local economic development spillover effects. While agritourism is not profitable or even appropriate in all communities, various stakeholders report that key barriers currently prevent farmers who would like to provide agritourism services from doing so. These barriers represent opportunity costs and include not only lack of information among producers, consumers, supporting organizations and policy makers, but also regulatory gaps across the states. Drawing on extensive stakeholder input, guidance and collaboration, the goal of this four-year project led by NERCRD Faculty Affiliate Claudia Schmidt (Penn State) is to develop and disseminate practical information that will allow small- and medium-sized farmers and rural communities to benefit from the growing consumer interest in agritourism activities. Supporting objectives include understanding the roles and educational needs of various organizations in supporting agritourism; improving understanding of factors that contribute to growth in agritourism across U.S. counties; and delivering peer-reviewed educational materials to farmers as well as supporting organizations and policy makers.

Collaborators on the project included: 

• Claudia Schmidt, Penn State and NERCRD, PI
• Lisa Chase, University of Vermont
• Jason Entsminger, University of Maine
• Stephan J. Goetz and Zheng Tian, Penn State and NERCRD
• Sarah Cornelisse, Jackie Schweichler, and Suzanna Windon, Penn State
• Stacy Tomas, Oklahoma State University

Below is a list of impacts and outputs from this project, which will be updated regularly as the research is ongoing. For a complete report on the work of this project, visit the USDA NIFA reporting portal. 

Selected Impacts:

• Through a number of publications and presentations made by the project team, researchers, agritourism support organizations, and non-technical audiences have increased their understanding of the status of agritourism in the U.S. and how it can be supported.
  • For example, the researchers found that agritourism and direct farm sales complement one another when they occur within the same community. These findings could help farmers and the local organizations that support them plan strategically for farm resilience and growth, and were shared widely via a peer-reviewed publication, a Penn State News release, and  presentations.
  • The researchers also found that availability and adoption of high-speed broadband appears to boost the number of farms offering agritourism activities. These findings bolster the argument for expanding broadband availability in support of farm operators who want to benefit from the growing consumer interest in on-farm experiences. This research was published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, and were shared widely via a Penn State News release and presentations. 

Selected Outputs

• Hollas, C. R., Chase, L., Conner, D., Dickes, L., Lamie, R. D., Schmidt, C., Singh-Knights, D., & Quella, L. (2021). Factors Related to Profitability of Agritourism in the United States: Results from a National Survey of Operators. Sustainability, 13(23), 13334. 
• Schmidt, C., Chase, L., Barbieri, C., Rilla, E., Knights, D. S., Thilmany, D., Tomas, S., Dickes, L., Cornelisse, S., Lamie, R. D., Callahan, R., George, H., Leff, P., Schmidt, C., Chase, L., Barbieri, C., Rilla, E., Knights, D. S., Thilmany, D., … Leff, P. (2022). Linking Research and Practice: The Role of Extension on Agritourism Development in the United States. Applied Economics Teaching Resources, 4(3). 
• Schmidt, C., Han, L., Moghadam, A., & Goetz, S. J. (2024). Broadband access and agritourism operations in the United States. Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, jaa2.128. 
• Schmidt, C., Tian, Z., Goetz, S. J., Hollas, C. R., & Chase, L. (2023). Agritourism and direct sales clusters in the United States. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 52(1), 168–188. 
• Schmidt, C., Entsminger, J., Lo, K., Hollas, C., Tomas, S., Goetz, S. J., & Cornelisse, S. (2023). Agritourism in the United States: State and National Fact Sheets. (More information about the fact sheets is available via this Penn State News article.)
• Entsminger, J. S., & Schmidt, C. (2024a). Agritourism and Recreational Services on US Farms: Data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. (NERCRD Data Brief 2024–1). 

  Entsminger, J. S., & Schmidt, C. (2024b). Direct-to-Consumer Sales of Agrifood Products by US Farms: Data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. (NERCRD Data Brief 2024–2).

Funding Agency: USDA NIFA

Principal Investigator: Claudia Schmidt, Penn State

Accompanying Institution(s): University of Vermont, Oklahoma State University, University of Maine

Start Date: July 2020   End Date: June 2024

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