America's Changing Farmscape: A Study of Agricultural Tourism in Michigan*

Abstract

Agricultural tourism incorporates visits to farms for the purposes of on-site retail purchases, enjoyment, and education. Long popular in the European Union (EU), agritourism is gaining popularity throughout the United States. Interest has grown as a result of stagnant grain prices, rising farm costs, and growing international competition. For rural areas seeking new economic options, the potential of these operations to generate new sources of income through sales and horizontal linkages to other tourism-based activities has sparked interest beyond the farm gate. This article, based on a survey and a statistical analysis of 300 agritourism operations in Michigan, summarizes factors associated with successful operations.     

The Economic Contributions of Agricultural Tourism in Michigan

Family farms have long generated income from agricultural tourism including U‐picks, wagon rides, corn mazes and petting zoos, but contemporary agricultural tourism reflects much greater sophistication in terms of product variety, services, activities, and marketing. In Michigan, farm operators have moved beyond classic products and activities and the traditional consumer base. New sources of revenue derive from classes on beer, cider, mead and wine making, yarn spinning, perfume/soap‐making, farm markets, fishing, educational classes, school tours and hospitality including weddings and on‐farm restaurants. This case study of Michigan agricultural tourism reports results from a systematic survey of 154 agritourism operations conducted throughout the state during summer and fall of 2013 with a focus on the economic benefits of the fast‐changing sector. This study summarizes tax revenues, sales and employment trends for the farm operations participating in the survey but also quantitatively assesses the contribution of agricultural tourism to Michigan's economy through an extrapolation of the sample to estimate state‐wide totals. Results from OLS multivariate regression analysis intended to identify relationships between employment, advertising and scale to gross sales per day are also reported. These analyses show the importance of agricultural tourism to rural and peri‐urban places in Michigan and throughout the nation, while raising concerns about a growing division between large and small operators and what this growing gap may mean for the future of the sector.     

国外观光农业研究综述

观光农业是农业和旅游业相结合的一项复合型产业，具有“农游合一”的性质。观光农业在国外迅速发展并走上了规范化的发展道路，是有其历史背景的。首先论述了国外观光农业发展的历史背景，然后对国外观光农业的研究进行了总结，观光农业的概念、观光农业与乡村经济发展的关系、观光农业与乡村文化的关系、农业与旅游业的关系、观光农业发展的动力机制、观光农业发展策略和管理、观光农业发展中的女性问题7个方面是国外观光农业研究的焦点。     

The Potential for Rural Heritage Tourism in the Clarence Valley of Northern New South Wales

In the past, heritage tourism has been associated with urban sites but there is now an acceptance of the application of this concept to rural areas. In the Clarence Valley in northern New South Wales there is potential for an extension of agritourism associated with working dairy farms to include safari tours to clusters of dairy heritage sites which are scattered throughout the area. Remnants of the old dairy industry, which began in the Clarence River Valley of New South Wales in the late nineteenth century, are scattered throughout the landscape. Over 300 dairy milking bails remain—ghosts of the former thriving industry when over 2000 dairy farms were operating. Concrete foundations of some creameries built in the 1890s can still be found, and three factory buildings still stand. These relics are disappearing quite rapidly and if the importance of the industry is to be recognised by future generations then it seems that some heritage conservation is overdue. At the same time, in order to survive in a post-deregulated economic environment, the remaining 10 dairy farmers in the Clarence Valley are diversifying their activities, with one form of pluriactivity being agritourism. Currently few of these farmers have entered this field but most of them see its potential to broaden their income base. Associated with agritourism at the farm level, the local government authorities see heritage tourism as a way of increasing employment in the region.     

广东观光农业旅游开发探讨

农业资源是一种遍在资源，观光农业是在农业的基础上，农业向旅游业延伸，具有“农游合一”性质的一种复合型产业。广东省是中国的经济强省和旅游强省，观光农业旅游也是率先发展。但广东观光农业开发中存在一些问题和隐患，必须在合理规划的前提下，以市场为导向，在深度开发具有本地特色的现代旅游产品的同时提高服务质量，使其成为深受游客喜爱的旅游产品。     

A research on development of agritourism in China-a case study of Beijing

1 Background and Importance to Develop AgritourismAgritourism is a new type of industry developed since the 1970s. Its development closely concerns with the development of national economy, the improvement of standard of living and the change of life style. The beautiful natural environment and special agricultural landscape in the rural areas together with the urgent aspiration after touring are composed of the realistic background to develop agritourism.In order to adapt to the realistic d…     

沟谷生态经济区的创意与景观规划设计——以北京市西部山区的规划实践为基础

本文在系统考虑大城市周围山区传统产业的局限性、传统农业的低效性和大城市新兴产业的蓬勃发展、可持续发展战略的深入实施以及大城市周围地区发展的客观需求等因素的基础上，在北京西部山区沟谷景观规划实践的基础上，提出了沟谷生态经济区的发展模式，从景观设计的角度对生态经济沟的创意和设计进行了深入探讨。主要内容有沟谷生态经济区的概念、功能、市场定位（区位选择、和产品选择与组合）、总体景观规划（景观意像、行为特征）和沟谷立地景观设计（景观构成、品牌设计、功能区设计、时序性设计、立地配置、环境净化与生态保护方案以及开发经营管理方案）。     

中国农业旅游发展研究

简要概述农业旅游的概念、特性及中国发展农业旅游的资源优势，详细阐述中国农业旅游发展的阶段模式、地域模式及存在问题。结果表明：中国发展农业旅游具有巨大的资源优势和市场潜力。而且发展前景非常诱人；但是中国农业旅游的发展却处于由自发式阶段向自主式阶段的过渡阶段，而且存在一些制约因素和问题。针对这些问题，从农业旅游的供给与需求及可持续发展的角度，论述了中国农业旅游的发展应注意的问题和发展方向。     

Alternative and Virtual Rurality: Agriculture and The Countryside as Embodied in American Imagination

Affection for agrarian livelihoods and rural and small‐town environments has long been held by residents in many of the world's “more developed” countries. Although the rural proportion of the U.S. population has shrunk to a minority over the last century, fondness for rurality continues to manifest itself in a number of ways. Attachment to the rural ideal or rural idyll can be considered as attachment to the idea of a type of place, rather than specific place attachment. Based on literature, field observation, computer searches, and data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, connections to idea(l)s of rurality apparent in popular culture are identified and illustrated. These include rural and agricultural tourism, small‐scale farming and large‐lot rural subdivisions, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets and community‐supported agriculture, creation of housing developments around farm activities, and rural‐named housing and business developments. Idealized relationships with rurality call upon health and well‐being, connecting to nature, aesthetics, privacy, and respect and nostalgia for rural livelihoods.     

日本绿色乡村旅游发展综述及农业遗产地绿色乡村旅游模式的初步探讨（英文）

众多研究认为可持续旅游(Sustainable Tourism)可在平衡保护环境和开发农业遗产地双方利益方面起到关键作用。能登里山里海景观作为日本传统农村景观的一个缩影,在2011年被认定为"全球重要农业文化遗产(GIAHS)"在日本最早的试点地之一。本文先通过分析文献总结了二十几年以来日本绿色乡村旅游发展的历史和现状,并结合农业文化遗产项目的发展目标讨论了在农业遗产地发展绿色乡村旅游的问题和新的机遇。本文以能登半岛一个由农民自发组织运营的农家民宿组织"春兰的故里"作为案例分析。主要的研究问题包括:如何充分利用国际项目来开发日本的绿色乡村旅游;如何在注重经济收入的同时兼顾生态农业的可持续开发?本文采用的研究方法包括文献的分析并多次采访了民宿主人。本研究成果亦提供在偏远地区发展绿色乡村旅游的思路。     

Aquaculture and the Postproductive Transition on the Maine Coast

Aquaculture is the global food system's fastest growing sector. The postproductive transition—the shift away from commodity production toward more consumption‐oriented land uses—is common in many coastal areas as well. This paper examines the intersection of these trends in a U.S. state, Maine, with expanding aquaculture and extensive coastal, rural economic and demographic change. It examines interactions between coastal landowners and aquaculture farmers at aquaculture lease hearings in the state's three main aquaculture regions. Landowners are often uncertain about aquaculture because it is new and unfamiliar. Farmers use lease hearings to educate coastal landowners about farm operations, and farmers respond to concerns by altering their operations to fit landowners’ priorities. However, comparative analysis of the three regions reveals divergent histories and geographies leading to different levels of conflict. This study shows the value of applying rural postproductive transition theory to coastal regions and aquaculture development.     

CHANGING SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WILLAMETTE VALLEY FARMS

In the post-World War II era the need to achieve satisfactory economies of scale has led to fever but larger farms in the Willamette Valley. Vigorous demand for farm land by the nonfarm sector has served to inflate land values. As a result, farmers have turned to leasing and renting as alternatives to land purchase. Difficulty in finding suitable land with which to enlarge farm operations has led to the use of noncontiguous fields.     

RESTRUCTURING AMERICA'S DAIRY FARMS*

ABSTRACT. As the number of American dairy farms rapidly declines, the character and spatial distribution of the remaining farms is undergoing fundamental change. Concentrating on an examination of both the smallest commercial farms (with 10–49 cows) and the largest dairy operations (with at least 500 cows), this study shows that megadairies are spreading from California into Idaho and America's traditional dairy belt, while Amish farmers are growing in prominence among those milking fewer than fifty cows. Although the greatest proportional declines in dairy farms have been among the smaller operations, average farm size throughout much of the nation remains well below 100 cows. Within a decade Amish farmers may operate one‐fifth of the nation's dairy farms as they expand across the traditional dairy belt, and 500‐cow dairies in the Midwest will outnumber those in California.     

中国入境旅游的经济增长效应与空间差异性研究

在旅游业与经济增长作用关系分析基础上,探究了旅游溢出理论,将其产生机制归纳为知识溢出、市场溢出和竞争效应3个方面。实证分析中,构建了包括入境旅游、物质资本、人力资本、科技创新和对外开放的分析框架,运用中国大陆31个省域2000~2014年面板数据对入境旅游的经济增长效应进行实证检验。全局分析得出中国入境旅游在邻近省市以集聚与合作为主,邻近省域入境旅游发展对本地经济增长具有辐射带动作用,且这种空间溢出效应大于直接效应;入境旅游业发达的地区,入境旅游的经济增长效应更大。局部分析发现,随着入境旅游的发展,入境旅游的经济增长效应不断强化,中部部分地区提升幅度最大;入境旅游的经济增长效应存在空间差异性,东部沿海地区贡献最大,西北地区相对最小。     

山东省乡村旅游竞争力评价与障碍因素分析

以山东省17地市为研究对象,构建乡村旅游竞争力主要指标评价体系,运用熵权TOPSIS法进行比较排序,并进行障碍度分析,发现：山东省17地市乡村旅游发展不平衡,烟台市乡村旅游竞争力最高,东营、菏泽、德州、聊城的竞争力较低;各地市竞争力水平空间分布具有差异性,半岛沿海地区乡村旅游竞争力较高,鲁西及鲁北地区竞争力较低;乡村旅游接待与服务能力是制约大部分地市乡村旅游竞争力提升的第一障碍因素,资源禀赋、自然环境、经济基础及客源市场条件在不同程度上制约各地市乡村旅游竞争力的提高。各地市应采取针对性的措施解决乡村旅游发展的障碍因素,推动乡村旅游合理有序发展。     

乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的研究框架与展望

中国特色社会主义进入新时代,城乡发展不平衡、乡村发展不充分等问题日益突出,实施乡村振兴战略是解决人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间矛盾的必然要求。发展乡村旅游能够有力地契合和服务新时代国家发展战略,促进农业提质增效、农民增收致富、农村繁荣稳定,加快统筹城乡融合发展步伐,是实现乡村振兴的重要途径。系统梳理国内外乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的相关研究成果,针对内容深度相对薄弱、功能拓展比较泛化、时代特征不够显著等问题,把握新时代乡村旅游发展的新特点、新使命、新要求,充分考虑中国是一个发展中的经济大国、人口大国、农业大国的基本国情,构建了融合地理学、旅游学、经济学、社会学、管理学等相关学科理论的新时代中国乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的研究框架,归纳了乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的五个重点研究内容,即乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的学理和逻辑机理研究、乡村旅游引导乡村经济振兴的路径研究、乡村旅游引导乡村生态宜居的路径研究、乡村旅游引导乡村治理体系重构的路径研究、乡村旅游引导乡村振兴的政策体系研究。五个重点研究内容包括理论层面、实践层面和保障层面,在相互联系、相互影响、相互作用中共同促进城乡融合发展,实现乡村振兴的科学、持续、健康发展。掌握和运用科学的方法论,汲取科学方法论的智慧和营养,构建多方法综合集成的方法体系,确保数据采集的真实性和数据处理的科学性,是新时代乡村旅游引导乡村振兴研究的关键。     

高铁网络化时代旅游地理学研究新命题审视

交通是推动旅游发展的重要"引擎".伴随中国进入高铁网络时代,高铁"时空压缩"效应对区域交通可达性格局产生重大影响,进而引致"哑铃型"旅游系统或旅游"人地关系"体系中一系列区域旅游要素产生"多米诺"效应,尤其是高铁对旅游空间行为,旅游市场需求和客源结构,旅游资源吸引力格局,与其他交通系统竞合,旅游产业结构,旅游空间格局等方面产生的影响更加凸显,由此催生出旅游地理学研究的20个新命题.梳理这些新命题既能为系统性开展高铁旅游研究提供思想启示,又有利于推动旅游地理学学科发展和理论创新.     

Enclaves and ethnic ties: The local impacts of Singaporean cross‐border tourism in Malaysia and Indonesia

Cross‐border tourism is often proposed by governments as an incentive for economic growth, but critics have suggested that its impacts are, in fact, overplayed. This paper presents research in the Indonesia‐Malaysia‐Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS‐GT). It examines the broad economic impacts of Singaporean cross‐border tourism on local host communities in two locations: Kukup, a traditional Malaysian fishing village in Johor, southern Peninsular Malaysia, and Bintan in Riau Islands Province in western Indonesia. The study found that cross‐border tourism generated income, employment and some local economic linkages. In Kukup clear economic benefits with increased income and employment were unevenly distributed between ethnic groups. The Bintan enclave development had some linkages to the island economy but was reliant on immigrant labour. Cross‐border ethnic ties, particularly Chinese, also played an important role in the growth of tourism in the IMS‐GT. The paper shows that cross‐border tourism can be a useful addition to more conventional forms of international tourism within national tourism planning and could lead to significant economic benefits for local communities.     

新常态下中国区域旅游发展战略若干思考

新常态正深刻影响着中国区域旅游业发展。本文在分析新常态下区域旅游发展几个新特点基础上,阐释了未来区域旅游业发展格局与趋势,提出了推进区域旅游业发展总体思路。文章指出,新常态下旅游业发展正呈现规模扩张和个性消费同步提升,“旅游强国”特质开始显现;跨界、跨行业企业集团逐步主导产业发展,并在全球范围谋篇布局;旅游产业地位日渐凸显,区域旅游协调发展成为重要目标;“第二次人口红利”开始释放,旅游服务开始引领“中国服务”建立;“互联网+”新型运营模式全面渗入,逐步拓展旅游业发展版图;“以人为本”的绿色发展模式导入,全面助推生态文明建设进程等六大特征。与之相对应,全面融入国家区域经济战略,中、西部地区旅游业整体崛起,城市休闲和城市旅游异军突起,生态文化功能区整体开发,区域旅游产业“网络化”成为重要发展趋势。最后指出,新常态下区域旅游业发展要有新思路,重点包括：以跨区域旅游目的地建设为突破口,全面推进区域业协同发展;以重大项目投资驱动为突破口,形成区域旅游投资与创新双轮驱动发展;以全面改革开放为突破口,形成内外源结合联动发展;以国家层面统筹协调为突破口,形成多层次区域旅游治理模式;以跨界渗透和兼并重组为突破口,培育区域化和国际化旅游市场主体;以综合旅游风险防范为突破口,实现区域旅游业可持续发展。     

Globalisation and the pattern of inbound tourism in Australia

International tourist flows to Australia are examined from the perspective of globalisation. The factors influencing such flows are identified and their geographical impact outlined. Inbound tourism is shown to be growing quickly in both absolute and relative terms and to have a metropolitan emphasis that contrasts with the non‐metropolitan focus of domestic tourism. Tourism illustrates many of the social and cultural changes occurring in contemporary society; the nature of tourism is changing as society changes with a result that new forms of tourism are emerging. Particularly noteworthy is the shift from mass to ‘new tourism’. The nature and likely impact of these changes in Australia is assessed. The paper concludes that growth rates comparable with those achieved in the past might not be sustainable.