Ripe for revenue: agritourism keeps farms and businesses in the green regardless of the season by offering tourists hands-on activities that are close to home.

• Author: Wood, Suzanne M.
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION

When Kit Carson-Trubey bought 280 acres just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Little Switzerland, her intention was to protect an apple orchard and its views from development. Almost 20 years later, she and her partners--brother Bill Carson and sister-in-law Judy Carson--still grow apples at The Orchard at Altapass, but only 20% of revenue is from their sale. The rest is from the apple butter, fudge and other down-home products sold at its store and website as well as donations, grants, memberships and sponsorships. It's a labor of love and a way to support the family, five full-time employees and about 25 seasonal workers. "That's what we're trying to do," Bill says, "not just to survive but sustain ourselves over the long haul so that when Judy and I retire, the business will be able to hire people to do what we've been doing."

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Through The Altapass Foundation Inc., the three run one of the nearly 400 agritourism businesses in North Carolina. A subset of the state's $19.5 billion travel and tourism industry, agritourism includes destinations such as vineyards, wineries, pumpkin patches, agriculture fairs, educational demonstrations and work-on-the-farm vacations. It increases revenue beyond what traditional produce or livestock can bring in.

Agritourism's popularity took off around 2006, says Martha Glass, manager of agritourism for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' marketing department. "After 9/11, and with the economy slipping, people had less income and didn't want to go far. They also were more patriotic and wanted to show their children where their grandparents lived. Farmers would come across children who thought goats were dogs and didn't know that milk came from cows."

The feathers in the state's agritourism cap are its more than 100 vineyards and 400 wineries. They contribute $1.2 billion to the Tar Heel economy each year, according to a report by the Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism at UNC Greensboro's Bryan School of Business and Economics. The state is a popular destination for wine enthusiasts and is home to the most-visited winery in the country--Asheville-based The Biltmore Co.--though competing with more recognizable powers, such as Napa Valley in California, is a challenge. But Southern-style hospitality might help it win yet, says UNC Greensboro professor Erick Byrd, a leading wine-industry...