Louisiana farmers hoping to boost their income now have a new opportunity with the help of the LSU AgCenter.The AgCenter is educating farmers and promoting agritourism, a business venture on a “working farm, ranch or agricultural enterprise” that combines education and entertainment, often through school field trips, according to the AgCenter’s Web site.”It can be people going on a field trip to a farm, to a rice plantation to find out how rice is grown or to see how they harvest crawfish,” said Dora Ann Hatch, community rural development agent and extension agritourism coordinator for the AgCenter.Hatch said agritourism is being promoted to coincide with an “agritourism limited liability law”, which aims to help famers.”That law states that the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry will make the rules and regulations for agritourism, and the LSU AgCenter will develop a plan of operation,” Hatch said.The law creates extra protection for farmers in the event they are sued for something that occurs in their agritourism business.”We suggest that all farmers have liability insurance,” Hatch said. “What the law does is add another layer of protection in the event that you are sued. It’s just like a little insurance policy on top of your insurance.”Dr. Paul Coreil, vice chancellor and director the AgCenter extension service, said agritourism is beneficial to farmers who can supplement their income and visitors.”People take items they see in a grocery store for granted,” Coreil said. “They may never have seen a cow being milked or the cotton crop that becomes blue jeans. They see these in the market, and now they can see the stewardship that goes into the products on the ground, in the trees and from animals.”Farmers who engage in agritourism can also use resources like employees to a fuller extent, Hatch said.”[Farmers] may have seasonal workers, and it’s hard to maintain them through the whole year,” Hatch said. “They can retrain those people and use them in their agritourism operation.”Farmers can also benefit by selling products like ice cream, strawberries or sweet potatoes to people who visit their farm, Coreil said.Agritourism’s main focus is to bring younger generations closer to agriculture, which they have been removed from because of the small percentage of the population that produces food, he said.”We have created a population that is really disconnected from where our food comes from,” he said. “Just like people like to go to Disney World or Epcot, they want to come and see the agricultural experience.”—————Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]