Live from your public media studios wdia presents Keystone addition business of public affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in NorthEastern in Central Pennsylvania This is Keystone addition business and now moderator steve number is hi I'm steve steppers farmers work long hours doing difficult work often for not a lot of financial reward many farmers have had to find alternative ways to bring in money while still maintaining their livelihoods So how does a farmer draw people in to visit and spend their money we have expertise experts here to answer these questions and share their stories If you have questions you can e-mail us at Keystone at wdia dawg or take us on social with the hashtag Keystone business but first paula czar shares what agritourism means if you've ever cut down your own christmas tree were visited a pumpkin patch You've supported a local form through agro tourism and agritourism combines agriculture and tourism to bridge the gap between the average person and where their food comes from Incidentally tourism and agriculture are tool of pennsylvania's largest industries There are four main areas of agritourism with farm retail dining being the most popular that includes things like breweries or farm to table restaurants The other areas are agricultural education like classes agricultural entertainment and agricultural launching where people stay overnight at a place like a bed and breakfast or a ranch So why would a farmer choose to branch out into agritourism the obvious answer is to bring extra money but some people view it as a way to preserve the land sustain the farms heritage and protect the farm for future generations according to the center for rural Pennsylvania You can get an entire meal and support agritourism through various food trails throughout the state featuring breads meets pickles and ice cream For more information on how you can't support agritourism in Pennsylvania had wdia daud port He's done Edition business I'm always are good evening I'd like to introduce our panelists here to share their expertise First we have dylan briggs He's the owner of briggs farm in nascar peck which is the home of the briggs farm blues festival next The knees bosworth joins us She's the owner of roebuck farm market bakery and gift shop finally bob morgan is here He's the state director of rural development for the united states department of agriculture bob Denise dylan thank you so much for joining us tonight on Keystone Edition business really looking forward to the conversation and I couldn't think of a better a panel of guests to get into this conversation conversation about well how farms are becoming more diverse in their operations and what brings people to farms so denise I'd like to start with you And you shared a little bit earlier that you are intent heading into the biggest busiest season of four generations of werbach farm Tell us about the diversity of activities going on on the farm and also how you and your team bring the farm out into the community We have been traditionally known in the past four fall activities which is still a thriving wonderful part of our farm but our desire was to diversify into other seasons and make our far more accessible and help people understand we have a lot more going on throughout different times of the year and make our farm accessible for people And so we have done that through primarily through education events and even though they're typically targeted towards kids in school age groups preschoolers to school age groups We have found parents common enjoy that activity just as much because they're learning something new and we're you know know engaging with families and kids in that in those opportunities so everything from camp to cooking classes to weekly workshops that we make available which has an egg touch to egg gets people on the foreign gets kids out gets them engaged with learning in the middle of the summer but they don't know that they just are having fun So yeah that's that's what our bigger picture is what are some of the most interesting things or perhaps surprising things that kids experience when they hear from you Why would open their eyes I think one of the most fun things well number one when you talk about things like animals and you talk about how much an animal might eat like a full grown cow how much water they consume and how much that becomes part of a daily experience for a farmer to make sure sure they're caring for their animals or I think one of the other most fun things we did last year was we had a soil pit in partnership with the conservation district just literally into the soil and helping them understand how important that is and how we take care of it and how we partner with other organizations that help us maintain our soil health and they If I told my kids they had to go out and dig a pit in the backyard that would never happen but we could not get kids soil pet pit they had such a great time so but they were learning They didn't realize how much they were learning about the importance of soil that we grow our food That's very thoughtful and a way for them to rehab connect Yeah and great educational mission that you you bring to the campaign at you Thanks Dylan wanted to ask you about briggs farm which has not been a part of that region well for as long as this has been a region Can you tell us a little bit about that longevity of briggs farm Sure But I just wanted to say that it's really amazing what she's doing I just kind of learned more about it we've been talking on the phone and if if you're heading to canobolas and it was a sort of a pitch for her but it's just so amazing that she spends all this time with the kids and that's the future of farming and of the state as a whole So if you're heading the canal will stop at roadblocks farm on the way most impressive It really is She does Absolutely long longevity so we've been there forever farming and I think it's sort of feels like the blues festivals been there forever That's that's our agritourism part of the farm we raised corn we raise chickens on the farm we raise over about a million dozen eggs a year on the farm and six hundred acres a green that goes towards feed for the same livestock and things like that but as far as the agritourism portion of our farm that's been going on since 98 That's so that's 26 years now and in 98 I think I was my first year in college maybe my second year in college so it's been my summer forever pretty much now and you've seen it I've seen it grow continuously every single year we did take a pause there in 2020 but since then Even the last two years it's grown tremendously so the blues festival when you were in college Can you remember how many artists How many days how many attendees one day I was one day for a long time probably they would say my parents I mean And then in the audience right now five hundred I would too Five hundred or they might say 800 attendees those weekends we went a two day and eventually became for day and then back to three day over the years and at this point we're up to just over 10000 attendees last year you're We're looking for a great about this year as well that's that's an amazing event and what What a regional draw How far do you Do you know how far rights I mean there are even people that come from overseas blues is very popular in europe I'm not saying there's a lot of people that come from overseas but Yeah The majority of the people that come Ah from Pennsylvania but we get a lot of new jersey new york delaware all over the region So you offered a very kind to plug for what denise has going on When's the police festival and lose festival this year there is a july six seventh and eighth twenty twenty three Sounds like an amazingly thursday friday saturday and I know that folks who want to learn more of course can go to your web your social media and briggs farm type it in that must be a huge I imagine it's a huge economic driver not just for your farm but for the region and bob I wanted to ask you a little bit about that the role that agriculture has for the economy of Pennsylvania It's hard to understate the The impact that agriculture has for the economy Pennsylvania its among as your intro said it's among the largest industries spend a lot of time driving around parts of Pennsylvania that aren't philadelphia in pittsburgh and there's there's a lot of farm and a lot of farming activity You know we are really kind of a bread basket to the nation You know we have one that we have the largest farm show held in january of every year it's you know it's a great opportunity for farmers to come together and and agricultural producers and you know see opportunities that they can take back to their own communities and and you know maybe help increase yields or or in this case You know use of create another revenue stream for the farm that topic that diversification of revenue streams next part of the conversation I want to ask each of you to jump in about a farm Of course is managed as a business talk about how farming is like any other business but also in contrast there are things that are unique to farmers to operating in a farm dylan Would you would you jump in on that What's what's Much like any other business and what's what's really unique to what you do Well I think it's like any other business in a way that is an entrepreneur you can you can be maybe a young person and come out of college and just want to do something on your own and in farming There's a lot of opportunities with that So in that respect I guess it is to any other business like manufacturing or sales but in the farm world and it's kind of stereotypical is that there's a lot of work in involved So you know you're gonna You really think you should count your hours but you know you're going to not make as much per hour probably you know you're You've got long days and sometimes it's really hard work I mean that's a stereotype for a reason But it's fun and rewarding I think like any other business as an entrepreneur anyway you want to get out there and being a farm owner are working on a farm gives us some freedom that maybe maybe you want Maybe you don't want I'm mean after a few years of farming you might decide that you want to go back to listen in to someone else tell you what to do Because it is a lot of work that to make your own decisions That's right yeah yeah so that's a big reason why I think i'm driven to do that in our family has driven to do that Yeah denise He never sent down on that just and the ability to make the decisions to shoulder that to know we can do the best thing for our community for her family without having there's a there's a hundred percent accountability there because these are communities like everybody knows who our families so there's no there's no skirting that part of it So the accountability is already in place and I think we do what we do because we want to open up our farms to the community we want to see people engaged in what we do because we we value it We know how valuable it is for our families and so that that business part of it is essential I think as farmers You can tell me we lose sight of the numbers sometime I do You know I love to do what I do and so sometimes I don't always count the numbers like I should and but somehow at the end of the day it always seems to turn out ok and i'm I'm so rewarded by people being you know just being there and I think our community paces back in that way or community paces backed by showing up by coming in our doors and taking care of us Just like we're trying to take care of them So I love that idea of taking care of the community and in turn They take care of you What's that But if one aspect of you know see it from the outside You know i'm not an active farmer but is that i'm always amazed that the creativity of people who own farms because there really is You know I mean we all talk about recycling and things of that nature is though it was something that happened you know beginning in 1970 but the reality is that farmers have been doing it You know since the beginning of time I mean there is no farmer that uses more of everything Then a mushroom farm You know the other scraping things off the ground and you know we're using him in the process and it just just absolutely amazing the same applies to the work that you do so it really is fascinating to see it You know looking at it from my vantage point I just think to myse wild yes it's a hard work but the creativity in the thought process that will put into it How do I do this Just a little bit better And how do I you know reuse this process Yeah that's mostly a necessity I think there's something breaks on saturday or sunday you've got to get it together One way or another there's a self-reliance yeah long farmers Right Yeah yeah yeah I think that's why we're all still family run I think that's why it's not corporations getting together you know I think it's because you need that that type of self-reliance to make it work The margins are slim and the work is hard So that's the farming community too you know we're a little bit farther away from each other but we just said you know what it's like neighbors in a sense for anybody who's in my local local farms around me like I can count on anybody to help me out with anything You know who's a fun time stuck on something or I don't know An answer to something or something's new I have such great support from the farming community from other from other farmers from other and they're all the same They're all family owned farms who've been there for a long time it's just a kindness and a passion at the heart of it I shared experience Yeah that you have with fellow farmers bob I want to ask you a little bit more about the usda so I know in your role you've had a chance to visit hundreds of farms travel across the state I wanted to ask you share a little but more about how the usda helps What kind of resources are there are a few things that you wanted to highlight Sure Absolutely We're reviewing from the broad overview I am I am responsible for representing the three and a quarter million people that live in agriculture communities in Pennsylvania and and so our objective is economic development So we do things in communities in rural communities they may be wastewater treatment plants They may be community buildings but most importantly how we help individual farmers there two programs I wanted to highlight what When you run any business There are two ways to improve your budget situation that is either a raise revenues or cut expenses so i'm going to give you an example of both on the one program the value added producer grant So if you're raising tomatoes and you Maybe say access to a commercial kitchen in your community or something like that you've decided to move as a way of instead of just selling tomatoes you're going to move to taking some of those two tomatoes and make spaghetti sauce or or some or maybe even salsa or something of that nature and and so we have under the value added producer grant because you're doing something to that product You're adding value to produce it and so what we're able to do is you can apply for a grand And we would be able to finance that grant that would allow you to maybe assist with a market maybe assist with the actual startup the pots and pans or things of that nature but but literally most often it's it's expanding you were distribution network oftentimes through the creation of web sites and and maybe is even as simple as you know providing the labels for your end product and those Those are not necessarily large grants they can be small grants we had a ten thousand dollar grant that went to a farmer in northern bucks county who raises chestnuts he said that if you give me ten thousand dollars to improve my web site and distribution I will be able to end up creating a larger market footprint and increase my sales in two years by two million dollars He is well on the way to doing that And you know it's a small investment it's almost like a Something you don't even notice but that's going to improve his ability to be a better community member You know his ability to hire more people His ability to invest more in his farm so that's a perfect example and on the on the kind of cutting expenses side we have the rural energy for america program and so it offers the opportunity for farmers and nonprofits to actually have an energy audit find out you know where their sources uses are and they may give them the opportunity to explore alternate methods of generating electricity most commonly You know we think of solar panels but it may be wind maybe other forms of just literally changing the lights The the u s And so we will We would partner with you To be able to fund some of that So I think it's you know it's fantastic and you know we don't We're not encouraging anybody to go out and stop raising cows and just raise electricity if you will So it's not meant to be you know a replacement too You know what your your your end product is it all fits right back into that Bottom line operating the farms as a business really aligns with economic development mission Yeah The first part of that the value added producer grant one of the things that I know farmers do is use that to mark market a new product and you agricultural products that they're bringing to market and back to Denise and dylan One of the things that both if you do very well is you connect with Well you're audiences through social media through web denise Could you talk talk a little bit about how important that is for a farm to have a presence online It's actually really important and I think it's how people build trust with us because they feel like they know us and I think what it is what i've noticed it also helps us do is do a lot of education and how people realize Things are growing this is how we're working on something so like will document everything as we go along like I was in the peach orchard today peaches are tiny right now we're but you know and I'll continue to do that strawberries I'll put out this information about strawberries probably tomorrow I see strawberry blossoms I see a tiny little strawberries I see very little impact from the cold in the frost which people are asking but it's their it exists So how do we help people understand not just the moment that food is ready for them or which ready for harvest but all of the things that go along the way So we do a lot of that and then obviously just a great way to communicate anything that's happening on the farm where people are looking for something to do and people out of the area find us like don't set a lot of people into our whole big area because there are so many things to offer in the area and that's just one of them and when they come in for the We see it We meet blues festival and that's great I mean we love meeting people out of town out of state enjoy that So it's it's I think it's important to build relationship and trust because they see what we're doing all along the way we're being honest about it We're being we're being transparent about things Good things and bad things sometimes there's difficult things that are happening on the farm when we lose a crop think it helps people understand maybe why they're fruit my costs more this year which thankfully the share everything looks good too far yes so far But last year we had major loss and so I think it helps people understand a little bit more about why something might cost something different Yeah Communicating with with your customers is so important and connecting with them You have an amazing facebook presence so many people connect and follow warbucks now dylan likewise especially for the brics firm blues festival and amazing following on facebook What does it take to build up that audience both in person and then people staying Two tuned for what's coming Yeah Many years and we've had many different people involved in marketing and now my wife and I are learning every day More and more I guess i'm marketing marketing is very important like when I market corn I kind of just make a phone call So that's a little different The offer that agritourism now is all about people so in the off season We're not plant and corn and even right now it's all talk about marketing all day every day I mean we kind of consumes us you know it's where we're just trying to get to reach the people and I guess that's part of the job of of the blues festival when you were great Great Many times over Great grandparents they would not have predicted this I don't think exactly I said Times have changed for the farming community there are some things that have stayed the same What's the balance there for you you What to traditions do you hope to continue that are always going to be there for briggs farm and also on Conversely with the festival or for whatever is next What do you hope the future brings that I guess the future for me is happening right now my my family is my son is 18 and my oldest other my oldest son is 20 and they're working the farm right now my son was cleaning out the chicken house getting ready for our new birds coming in all that's happening in the spring and that's tradition I think is the next for us Anyways the next generation continuing that farm and that life that we like so much so that's part of the reward I guess ofbeing pn that business is to see your family continue What What do idea it's do you think they might bring oh I hope lots of new ideas i'm open to listen to everything that they have to tell me denise you're goi to keepns them but wha What else of jusbeing there for Well tk our communitbeing dendable beingou know place thapeople cabring their mily think mae what's anged which angi and think thisould be eecd is le negate anhing from e past visly 've definily had to it in our mt change h we farm inthose the des cafeel heavyometimes cause you l I t past bute so wanto ntinue to mo the rmorward and be stainable r years tocome So yee past bute so wanto uld be my things We wi you both of you the bestn both of those pursuits b a closing word of what you hope for for for denise for thk that you know from my stapoint My job is to try a assist your communities in ways that you can can devep and provide opportunitieso that we don't suffer the The brain drain thatat tentimes happens but wh I found in aveling across Pennsylvanias that you know so many of us whether we live in rural communities There is such a shared nse of value and a shared sense of optimism and in rural have eight times you feel beaten do but but it's just you know I am so impressed with the farmers that i've met because they really are it on to my son or same daughter and it is kinds of a sad time if for some reason you know your children move away and they choose not to coinue the farm Thank you so much that sentiment and denice and dylan as well thank you so much for being our guests tonight for more information on this topic agritourism diversification in farms pleaseisit wdia dot org slash Keystone business d remember you can read watch ts episode on demand anytime online or the wrva app for Keyste addion business I'm steve numbers Thank you for watching