Fall is the prime time for agritourism! Families are going to pumpkin patches, buying delicious apple cider, and enjoying time outdoors during the last warm days of the year. I’m here to tell you about how your fun times spent with your friends benefit the agriculture industry and why you should keep doing it!
Everyone loves going to a local farm’s pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin to buy and carve back home. Not to mention, it is also a beautiful place to go and spend time with your friends and take lots of pictures with that perfect fall aesthetic. When you go to a farm, pick out a pumpkin, and participate in activities they may also have, you are unknowingly obtaining knowledge about the care that farmers take to ensure that they can grow beautiful vegetables. Individuals’ experiences at pumpkin patches can show them just where their food comes from and who the individuals are that grow and care for it. In the hard times farmers are currently enduring, it is also beneficial to purchase your pumpkins from a local farmer, supporting their likely small family business.
Hayrides and corn mazes are another way to support the agriculture industry this fall. Each of these events is usually carefully planned out by the farmers themselves and appropriate measures are taken to ensure that both of these events are safe for the people experiencing them. This takes a lot of time on the farmers’ part; to plan and advertise these events as well as take the time to actually be there and host them! Fall is prime harvest season, so it is important to remember that farmers already have a lot going on, trying to get all the crops in before the weather takes a turn for the worse. If you attend a hayride or corn maze and you see the farmer there, be sure to thank them for taking the time to put on these events that the public adore so much.
Move over pumpkin spice, because apple cider is coming to town! Many people across the nation are obsessed with pumpkin spice, but another delicious fall drink that actually supports the agriculture industry is apple cider! Apple cider can be bought in the store, supporting larger farmers from around the world, or from a local stand or farmer who makes their own. Some events, such as last weekend’s Autumn Acres at the SU Campus Garden, even have fresh-pressed apple cider, which is made on-site and does not go through the pasteurization process. All forms require the purchase and use of apples of some kind, thus supporting the farmers who grow them!
Last, but certainly not least, is celebrating that beautiful fall décor we all love to see! Gourds, mums, strawbales, and pumpkins make up glorious displays on the front porches of many houses. Purchasing these items from local shops and farms helps to support the industries that grow them! Gourds and pumpkins are just vegetables, grown on many produce farms. Strawbales are made of straw which can be most commonly created from oats, wheat, or rye that farmers grow in their fields and chop in the summer and fall as the crop becomes ready. Mums are grown in local greenhouses, which isn’t necessarily a farm, but still part of the agriculture industry!
Although many people think of fall as the time at which plants and their growth slows down to a stop, the agriculture industry is doing just the opposite. Fall is the busiest time of the year for farmers, and many of them still find the time to offer products and events to the public for fall entertainment. If you go out and do any of these things this fall, take a picture and share it with the hashtag, #thankafarmer!