activity for people from the entire region.
Agritourism attracts visitors to working farms to enjoy and learn about farming activity while providing opportunities for hard working farmers to diversify, increase their revenue, and reach new audiences. As people become increasingly interested in local food, visits to farms help them better understand where their food comes from and how it is produced.
Kevin Atticks, Maryland’ s Secretary of Agriculture says agritourism’ s spread is a direct response to consumer demand, and people’ s desire to support and reward local farms.“ Farms that do this are meeting a need,” Atticks asserts. Another benefit, he added, is that the growth of agritourism is“ pushing some farmers to grow more food for people and not just animal feed.” That, in turn, could
“ help expand the number of farmer entrepreneurs who are willing to get into the business.”
Farmers in Montgomery County are already seizing the opportunity to expand product lines. As Mike Scheffel, Director of Agricultural Services for Montgomery
County, maintains:“ Guardrails are absolutely needed [ on agritourism activities ] but we want farmers and landowners to have the ability to adapt to the market. Tourism activities are now an essential ingredient in the success of farms and the preservation of the Ag Reserve.”
44 plenty I autumn harvest 2025