Inaugural Maryland Agritourism Conference reflects increasing interest in agritourism

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December 15, 2023

The first Maryland Agritourism Conference drew strong attendance from across the state and beyond, and included producers, non-profits, Extension professionals, students, and government officials including Maryland’s Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks, who delivered a keynote.

Group of people on a stage with projector screen in background

2023 NET Conference upholds tradition of seeding new connections and collaborations

December 11, 2023

More than 80 members of the National Extension Tourism network (NET) gathered in Milwaukee, WI, in September for four days of networking, learning, and experiencing greater Milwaukee. NERCRD staff provide support to the conference planning team, and participated in several presentations and workshops.

NERCRD researchers honored with two awards for research on nutrition and food security

November 21, 2023

Zheng Tian, Claudia Schmidt, and Stephan Goetz were honored with two distinct awards for their paper titled “The Role of Community Food Services in Reducing U.S. Food Insufficiency in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (JARE) in 2022.

Schmidt recognized with Emerging Leader Award from National Extension Tourism Network

November 21, 2023

Congratulations to NERCRD Faculty Affiliate Claudia Schmidt, who was recognized with the 2023 National Extension Tourism (NET) Emerging Leader Award for her impressive body of agritourism research and outreach programming!

three people posing for a photo together

NERCRD honored with National Extension Tourism Partner Award

November 21, 2023

The award, given by the National Extension Tourism (NET) Design Team at its biennial conference in September, recognized the NERCRD for its contributions that have made a significant positive impact on the NET organization, including support of a strategic planning process and partnership on a project-accelerator grant.

booklet cover with large photo of farmland

International Workshop on Agritourism 2022 Proceedings now available online

August 8, 2023

The International Workshop on Agritourism (IWA) 2022 Conference Proceedings is now available online. The publication is intended to increase access to the scholarship that was shared during the three-day conference, which was hosted by University of Vermont Extension in Burlington, Vermont, USA, on August 30 – September 1, 2022. It contains 27 peer-reviewed papers, which are grouped into nine topic areas. It was published jointly by the National Extension Tourism Network and the Global Agritourism Network, with support from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.

group of professionals with laptops gathered at large table

Digital divide hinders rural innovation, study shows

June 9, 2023

Cloud-based computing directly contributes to business innovation, but rural businesses lacking sufficient broadband capacity to access cloud services are missing out on their innovation-boosting potential, according to a team of researchers from NERCRD and the National Science Foundation. The findings can be used by policymakers and business-support organizations to foster greater opportunities for rural innovation.

Agritourism and direct sales fact sheets for all 50 US states

June 2, 2023

A new set of fact sheets provides comprehensive insights into the demographics of U.S. farms that offer agritourism activities or sell food directly to consumers or both. The fact sheets are available for all 50 states and are intended to help local decision makers, farmers, and the organizations that support them in their efforts to strengthen and expand agritourism enterprises.

Opening farms to visitors boosts nearby farms’ direct sales, and vice versa

April 19, 2023

Farmers use many marketing strategies to diversify their incomes and stay in business. New research led by NERCRD Faculty Affiliate, Claudia Schmidt, suggests that two of these strategies—agritourism and direct farm sales—complement one another when they occur within the same community. The findings could help farmers and the local organizations that support them plan strategically for farm resilience and growth.

RRDCs release findings from National Listening Sessions on Rural Community, Economic, and Workforce Development

February 27, 2023

Today the nation’s four Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs) are releasing their findings from a comprehensive initiative aimed at identifying the critical investments needed to build community capacity and improve quality of life in rural America. Their report, Investing in Rural Capacity: Comprehensive Summary of National Rural Development Stakeholder Listening Sessions, can be used by a broad audience of practitioners, decision makers, and government agencies to inform where programmatic efforts and resources may be most effective in tackling key issues facing rural communities.

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