This project provided educational and networking opportunities to existing and potential agritourism operators in Louisiana emphasizing assessment and management of financial and legal risk, and safety and emergency management. Agritourism is a means of diversifying risk providing farmers with financial stability. Legal liability concerns related to agritourism operations in the state of Louisiana have increased over the past couple of years.
The LSU AgCenter hosted four workshops discussing legal and financial risks, business organizations, safety risks and emergency management strategies and providing information on how to become a certified agritourism operator. A total of 106 people attended the workshops. Participants included farmers, county agents, tourism and industry agents and visiting scholars. As a result of the workshop activities, presentations and workshop assessments two agritourism publications were updated, and relevant publications were developed. All workshop material is hosted on the LSU AgCenter and the LSU Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness website.