You will see more and more signs of agritourism in this part of Montana once a bill sponsored by the Farmer’s Union and signed by Governor Bullock a few weeks ago, gets up and going in the next two years.
It is very apparent to many people in the agriculture community that they need to diversify their products even more. It is not enough just to plant wheat. It is not enough to plant other crops. Still more is needed to keep the family farm viable and able to support extended families so that those farms are not lost to giant organizations that leave little in their wake to help support Northern Montana communities like Big Sandy.
Allan Merrill, president of Montana Farmers Union and an organic farmer in this part of Montana says that in Europe there are many signs of agritourism that have not been seen here.
“Take the dairy industry in Italy,” said Merrill. “There was not enough money made in the dairy industry so farmers cleaned out their large stone barns and started feeding great Italian meals to tourists from all over the world. That is agritourism.
Someone raising vegetables in this area of Montana might just not sell them to area restaurants but maybe put out a stand to sell the best vegetables ever and picked so fresh they don’t seem like produce department produce at all.
How about someone raising safflower, getting together with other area farmers raising safflower, buying a press and selling safflower oil by the side of the road all summer long.
The same could be done with wheat. How about someone with waves of ripening wheat behind their stand, selling flour produced by the wheat on the farm and maybe even the wheat seed itself for those wanting to make their own flour.
One family farm has some of the most beautiful views in the area of the Highwoods, Bear Paws and Shonkin Sag. They have trails that go from those beautiful views and vistas all the way to the Missouri River. That family is thinking of going to Great Falls and buying some of those heavily advertised cottages, setting them up and making them into places tourists can really get the feeling of Montana and the Montana way of agriculture.
There is a downside to all of this or was before the Agritourism bill was signed by the governor.
Before that bill goes into effect, if a buyer stepped on a rattlesnake while buying some flour, that injury would probably be on the landowner. While walking down a hill toward the river, maybe there are a bunch of badger holes and the tourist does not know that black widow spiders like to live in badger holes so he or she sticks his hand in the badger hole and gets bitten by a black widow. That would probably be on the landowner too.
But not now.
The agritourism bill signed by Governor Bullock holds the land owners harmless from commonsense mistakes that are made in recreating on private agriculture lands.
All that gives the agriculture producer the where with all to think outside of the box to keep his family farm viable and able to support the family who lives there all year long.
It gives the agriculture producer the ability to take advantage of anything they can do to make their farm better according to Allan Merrill.
And the bottom line is it will help keep families on the family farms and that will make towns like Big Sandy flourish even more because of the diversity of tourism around the area.
No longer will we see people just stocking up to go down the Missouri River. There will probably be a whole host of things to do and see along the way.
Think of this. In Montana, in 2010 we attracted 10.5 million nonresident visitors who spent an estimated $2.4 billion dollars.
We know that many of those people, over two million in 2016 ended up in Glacier National Park. Glacier is way too small to ever handle that many people and as a result there is no stopping at the top of Logan Pass for a bathroom break anymore. Too many people for that and popular trails are getting worn down to the nubbin be so much use. Glacier is going to have to take drastic action and soon.
But, what if on the way to Glacier, a tourist could stop for a farm tour and an overnight stay or a children’s educational day camp or a bed and breakfast or a bird hunting camp or a corn maze or petting farms or hands-on-u-pick farms, hay rides, sleigh rides and farmers markets just to name a few activities that would keep people away from Glacier for a few days and keep family farms viable and operational.
As Allan Merrill would say, “that looks like a win-win for everyone!”
