In spring 1990, workers at Lane Packing on Ga. 96 in Peach County were selling peaches by the tractor-trailer load when elderly women kept stopping to try to buy a few pounds.

To avoid the interruptions, the Lane family hired a high school girl and put her out beside the road with a folding table and a supply of peaches.

“She sold $40,000 worth of peaches that year,” David Lane told a group of people gathered in Perry last week for a conference on agritourism. “That told us something.”

From that humble roadside beginning, Lane’s foray into agritourism has grown into a full-scale attraction that drew 200,000 people last year.

Lane’s enterprise has steadily expanded over the years to include a large retail area, a catwalk where visitors can observe the packing process, a restaurant and 60 rocking chairs out front.

Lane credits the popularity of the market not just to the star attraction - peaches - but also to the quiet location well off the interstate.

“People get to come to the country and they get to sit out there and relax,” he said.

Arranged by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the conference last week was dubbed Symposium of Discovery - Agritourism and Creative Economies in Georgia.

Held at one of Georgia’s top agritourism attractions, the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, it is the state’s first conference on agritourism. About 170 people attended the two-day event.

At lunch on Wednesday, keynote speaker Zippy Duvall, president of the Georgia Farm Bureau, emphasized the importance of agritourism as a public relations tool.

Agritourism is a way for farmers to communicate directly with the public, he said. Even small children, he said, can have an impact on public opinion.

“If you bring a group of 4-year-olds out to your farm and show them around your farm, and if they are fortunate enough to have parents to go home to at night, at the supper table I promise you those 4-year-olds are going to influence their parents,” Duvall said.

Among the participants at the conference were Phillip and Marinette Scott, owners of The Pecan Orchard Plantation in Mount Vernon. In addition to pecans, they also have livestock and grow Vidalia onions.

Four years ago they decided to open the farm up to tours, and it has proven popular. They have drawn 2,000 visitors this year.

The activities vary depending on the time of year, but usually include a hayride through the property and the opportunity to engage in farm activities.

“You just wouldn’t believe the number of people who want to come and pick an onion,” Marinette Scott said.

Decades ago, most Americans grew up on farms. Today it seems most people grow up in subdivisions or apartment complexes, and that is why there’s a growing interest in visiting farms, according to agritourism supporters.

Many children who grow up in urban and suburban environments have never seen a cow up close, said Adam Pugh, event manager for Rock Ranch in Barnesville.

“It’s about getting them away from the PlayStation for a day,” Pugh said. “They all learn about animals in schools but with subdivisions popping up in every pasture, they don’t have access to them.”

Rock Ranch is a working farm owned by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy. The ranch offers hay rides, pony rides, cane-pole fishing, train rides and a petting zoo. It is open on weekends from September through November.

Agritourism, in some cases also called agritainment, is a $1.7 billion business in Georgia, but the potential for growth is one reason the state decided to hold the conference, said Gilda Waters, director of the Department of Economic Development’s Tourism Foundation.

“What we know about tourists is that they are looking for new experience,” she said. “So few people have a relationship with a farm and they are just curious to experience farm life.”

Participants in the conference discussed the possibility of creating an agritourism association in the state. Some states have such an association, Waters said, but not Georgia.

Enough people expressed interest that an exploratory committee was created to look into the possibility.

Supporters of a new state park will get their first look at a draft of the master plan this week, but it’s uncertain when construction will begin.

The state is holding a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Houston County Board of Education building in Perry. It’s the third and final public hearing on the park.

At the previous two meetings, attendees have offered thoughts on what amenities the park should have. The state developed three concept plans and people were then asked to state which plan they liked the best, or they could combine parts of each plan.

Common features in all three plans for the 858-acre tract include a multi-use trail, fields for hunting doves, and renovation of the Andel House near the park entrance. Each plan also features a 106-acre public fishing lake, which has already been constructed, but has not opened. The property is located between Interstate 75 and U.S. 41, just south of Perry.

Now the state has taken the feedback and developed a final draft plan, although changes could still be made, said State Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry. Tolleson chairs the Department of Natural Resources committee, which is over state parks, but he said it’s not certain that construction of the park will be funded in the upcoming General Assembly session.

“I don’t know that we can get it funded in the session coming up,” Tolleson said. “We will just have to get in line with everybody else. We are going to work real hard to accomplish getting the park funding.”

Tolleson said he has not seen the final plan, but he said it can still be tweaked even after Thursday’s unveiling. People interested in the park have offered plenty of suggestions after viewing the three concept plans, he said.

“I think the final one will be a combination of what everyone saw in the three,” he said.
Even if the park isn’t funded in the upcoming legislative session, the lake might open next summer. That will depend on whether there’s enough rain to fill it by then.

Wendy Way, who is part of a local group that has been supporting the park, said she is excited about the unveiling of the final plan, even though she has not seen it.

“I’m hoping we will have a good turnout for the last meeting,” she said.

The 12th annual Museum of Aviation Foundation Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk will be held at the Museum of Aviation Jan. 19, 2008. The Museum of Aviation Foundation and the Robins Pacers Running/Walking Club sponsor the event, one of the largest marathon races held in Middle Georgia and a member of the 2008 Run & See Georgia Grand Prix Series.

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