Of course, visitors know you’re the local farmer growing their food for them and providing agritourism experiences. If you believe that, you’re probably fooling yourself. At Chestnut Brae, visitors are surrounded by over 1000 chestnut trees, but we are often asked where we source our chestnuts. In fact, most locals can name the local school teacher and doctor, but not a local farmer. We need to do a better job of promoting that we are local in order to gain customer trust. When I (John), was in Hong Kong in June this year, the China News newspaper was promoting that municipalities that month were promoting “local” markets around the country. To have a stall at the market, the stall holder had to have made or grown the product in the municipality. You may argue that farmers markets do this in many countries, but some markets can be questionable and tarnish the image for all. The UK this month has a promotion, “Meet a farmer for a day,” where the public are invited onto participating farms to learn how a farm works. In the Agritourism Training Academy, there are a number of lessons focused on how to increase your “local” marketing potential and increase your revenue as a result. Promoting being local is now big business and restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, and trades people are joining the bandwagon. It is getting to be a crowded “local” marketplace and your business needs to stand out. To discuss your training needs contact Lara by scanning the QR code to organize a chat. Connect with Agritourism Training Academy

Yes, 💩happens…literally! Petting zoos, riding stables, restroom trailers, porta-potties, and did you just say corn maze?!? Eww! But, remember you, yes YOU, make the good 💩happen!