2009 ANA Conference in Hickory
Everett Davis, Robeson Co. Extension Director, wins "Discover NC Farms" Map	President Cathy Lewis welcomes ANA members and guests	Wayne Woosley, Woosley Farm in Forsyth County, tells about his successful farm

From The President's Farm: Spring Greetings!
Hi there, ANA members! I hope you’re almost finished planting, pruning, taking a break from the weather extremes, and that the late cold didn’t damage crops. We have had a lot going on since the last newsletter. So much to do, so little time – a common challenge!

One of our new services is the ANA blog set up by past secretary and now Blog Mistress Kristi Marshall. The board is a guinea pig right now to work out the wrinkles, but you can see it on the Agritourism Office web page www.ncagr.gov/agritourism.

The 2009 ANA Conference evaluation is also located on the web page. It was definitely a huge step forward for an improved ANA annual conference, starting with the reception at Larry Cagle’s WoodMill Winery Thursday evening.

The Board met Thursday night after the reception and approved a major change resulting from the economy. Yes, it hit ANA, too. We approved an increase in the cost of agritourism liability signs for renewing and non-ANA members. Previously, renewing members could request two more free signs. As of February 28, the Board voted that only new Active members would receive two free signs. Signs will now cost $7.50 each due to increases in postage and the envelopes we have to buy in which to mail the signs.

We hope this will not cause hardship on anyone. If that is the case, please contact me and we will try to work something out.

Finally, two locations are being considered for next year’s conference site: the Greenville Convention Center and the New Bern Convention Center. Greenville seems to be the front-runner due to more central location in eastern North Carolina. The Board believes that it is in the best interest of members to locate the conference in each region of the state to allow members to be close to one conference at least once every two or three years.

Hoping your agritourism season is the best ever,
Cathy Lewis, President

Julia Bircher and Melissa Barnett, A Day at the Farm, Craven County, show off a picture of their farm

2009 Third Annual ANA Conference a Success!
The third ANA Annual conference in February at the Park Inn Conference Center in Hickory brought in over 100 members and guest speakers to see some neat new additions to the activities and schedule.

Thursday night featured a reception at nearby WoodMill Winery, owned by ANA member Larry Cagle. Larry told guests the story of his successful winery, and provided wine and goodies for the early evening event.

We had corporate sponsors who helped with conference costs and some had displays in the lobby outside the meeting rooms. Our sincere thanks go to Gold Level Sponsor at $500, ANA member and long-time supporter Ron Taylor, LuMil Vineyard and D’Vine Foods; the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Silver Level Sponsor at $250 from strong supporter and ANA member Debbie Hamrick; and ANA members Marilyn Cade, Mountain Farm, and Will Johnson, Johnson Insurance Services, Bronze Level Sponsors at $100.

LuMil Vineyard and D'Vine Foods - Ron Taylor	Johnson Insurance Services Will Johnson	Mountain Farm Marilyn Cade

Ron’s delicious food products and slushies were a great hit. Marilyn had products from her goat farm and lavender crop for sale, and Will Johnson talked with many of the conference attendees about agritourism liability insurance. Although Farm Bureau did not have a booth, Debbie Hamrick was on hand to meet and greet.

Additionally, displays from member farms and businesses in each meeting room were interesting and educational, and fun to feel ANA Secretary Vicki Sundberg’s stuffed llamas along with Lea and Sam Thompson’s llama products; Karen Miller brought a slide show of Denton Farm Park; Brenda Sutton featured “The Produce Lady” exhibit; Ann Ashman brought insurance information from AF Insurance Company in Elkin; Ron and Gloria Wagner had their Anderson Packaging display; and Andrew Branan, Executive Director of the Farm Transition Network and longtime ANA supporting member, had his display set up to introduce farmers to the resources of the Network.

Lea Thompson & her llamas		Vicki Sundberg and David Smith have llamas, too

At lunchtime, the Ammons Sisters from Sylva entertained the group with their homespun storytelling and pastel drawings of mountain tales. The impromptu mountain dancing and band added fun and laughter to the talented sisters’ presentation.

	Ammons Sisters

Dual workshops for each hour included successful farm stories, business planning for small businesses, lobbying public officials with grassroots strategy, and website development. The evaluations were highly positive for each of these sessions. Looks like we’re meeting our primary ANA goal - helping agritourism farmers and vineyard owners grow their businesses and bring more visitors to the farm.

Update on Next Three ANA Workshops...
Don’t forget to attend the final three ANA district workshops – Northeast at Hope Plantation at Roanoke/Chowan Heritage Center in Windsor, Bertie County, April 16; Southeast at Duplin Winery at Rose Hill, Duplin County, April 23; and West District at The Orchard at Altapass in Spruce Pine, April 30. The registration forms and agendas are available at www.ncagr.gov/agritourism.

"Discover North Carolina Farms" Statewide Agritourism Map Goes to Press

The “Discover NC Farms” statewide agritourism map will be delivered to the Agritourism Office Monday, April 13. Funded by The Tobacco Trust Fund Commission grant, the proof went to press by the goal date of February 13, but printing was delayed by grant regulations unknown to the grantee. (That means that Martha Glass didn’t know all she wished she had when she was awarded the grant, and delay was unavoidable. Lessons learned!) We therefore are two weeks behind our desired goal of getting the maps to the Welcome Centers and other tourism agencies, hotels, and points of rural tourism interest. Please think about who in your community would benefit by having the maps on hand for distribution. There are 100,000 copies available, and the best way to let visitors know about agritourism farms in North Carolina is to get the maps in their hands! They are very attractive and large but easy to keep in the car glove compartment. 

There are 213 farms on the map, selected from about 260 applications. An email message will go out shortly to those on the map, and another to those who didn’t make it this time. We hope to get another grant next year and produce three maps – one for the three regions of our state – mountains, piedmont and coast.

The Department Marketing Division will help with distribution costs due to lack of total funding for that effort. The map was also designed by the Marketing Division Art Shop working with Martha Glass. Maps will hopefully be mailed in the near future to all those listed on the map.

The survey instruments which went out to measure the number of visitors who found farms through the map cannot be used until later this month when farmers on the map are notified they are listed. The first due date for the survey numbers may be moved to June 30 with the second due date remaining October 31.

Thanks to all of you who applied, and apologies to any who did not gain a place on this map. Hopefully, if the 2010 state budget does not severely cut or absorb the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission’s grant monies, we can include all applications next year – if we win another grant!

Third Annual Spring Workshops - North Central at Chinqua Penn Plantation, March 26, and West Central at Ijames Heritage Farm, April 2
I guess you’re wondering about South Central at Cypress Bend Vineyards, scheduled for March 19. The bottom line was lack of registrations. There were four people who registered, and two of them were at the Annual conference. Geraldine Herring, Co-District Director, Tina Smith, our hostess at Cypress Bend along with her husband Dan, and I decided it was not an efficient use of resources and budget to hold the meeting, so it is postponed until later. ANA apologizes to those who wanted to attend, and we hope that indeed we can have this workshop perhaps in late summer or early fall. Stay tuned!

Our North Central workshop at the historic and elegant Chinqua Penn won the “Most Laughter” award for workshops during the past three years. Sam Thompson, District Co-Director, did a great job with local folks to put on a quality workshop. Jonathan Bullock, also District Co-Director, filled in with hilarious stories of being a new farmer. Many thanks to Brenda Sutton, “The Produce Lady,” for her talk on food safety; Ben Duke for his presentation on Chinqua Penn; Helen Tuttle and Caroline Tuttle Lineberry for their stories about D. L. Tuttle’s Berry and Vegetable Farm; and Larry Smith, owner of Smith Farm, who talked about the growing demand for organic farms and produce. Martha Glass also talked about starting and marketing new agritourism farms and the benefits of joining the ANA. Several folks joined ANA as a result of seeing how ANA could help them grow and have fun at the same time. And finally, a huge ‘thank-you’ to Laura Pearse of Chinqua Penn for her help in setting up the workshop for us, and Max Lloyd, Grove Winery, who assists Chinqua Penn in their wine production and led the ‘tasting time.’

	Loch Hoffman talks about CSA at West Central workshop

The West Central ANA District held its workshop at the 200 year-old plus Ijames (ah-ya’mees) Heritage Farm near Mocksville. The farm was started by Reba’s ancestors and is now owned by Reba and Todd McInnis. Reba is a District Co-Director.

This workshop has so far won the award for highest attendance, with 38 farmers and vintners and speakers enjoying a great evening in Reba’s refurbished barn (she would say it’s still a ‘work in progress!’).

Potential and current ANA members listened to Rowan County Extension Director Greg Hoover talk about the benefits to the county and farmers for Voluntary Agricultural Districts; Cora Ellen Stroud, who talked about the need for good signage and tips for creating a sign to remember; Will Johnson, who gave an indepth overview of the need for agritourism liability insurance; and lastly, Loch Hoffman, District Co-Director, gave an informative talk about his farm which supports Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and Doug Patterson, who talked about the success of Patterson Farms’ agritourism program and wholesale distribution. Martha Glass talked about starting and marketing new agritourism farms and the benefits of joining ANA.

Will Johnson explains why agritourism liability insurance helps farmers

Several farmers and vintners in the group joined ANA after hearing about the benefits of membership and the agritourism liability warning signs.

For information on the last three workshops, go to www.ncagr.gov/agritourism for the registration forms and agendas. We hope to see you there!

Getting to Know Elected and Appointed Officials and Keeping Up with New Laws
Bill Young, West Co-District Director and Jonathan Bullock, North Central Co-District Director, are forming a committee of interested members to follow local, state and, when time permits, federal legislation. This involves getting to know your local elected and appointed officials, establishing relationships with state Representatives and Senators from your districts, and following work at primarily the state and local level.

ANA has been involved with successfully helping legislators get our two beneficial laws on the books – the Agritourism Liability Law, and keeping the Dept. of Revenue from taxing agritourism farms as commercial businesses.

One major issue is highway signage, and there is an effort in some areas on the state level to look at the existing law and perhaps make it more user-friendly. To accomplish this, YOU will need to be involved.

Look for more information on this through the list serve (ncana.members@lists.ncmail.net) and the new ANA blog!

2009 NC ANA Officers & Board Members
OFFICERS Cathy Lewis 330 Lewis Road Gastonia, NC 28054 Lewis Farm lewi1408@bellsouth.net	President Gaston Co. West Central District	704-824-3621 (h) 704-842-1208 (c) 704-824-7283 (o)
Craig Swindler 15917 Idlewild Rd Indian Trail, NC 28079 Carolina Llamas cswindler@carolina.rr.com	Vice President Union Co. South Central District	704-882-8694 (h) 704-575-5513 (c)
Vicki Sundberg 5550 Mills Trail Bolivia, NC 27320 SundMistPastures Homesweethome_3@yahoo.com	Secretary Brunswick Co. Southeast District	910-253-5612 (h) 910-269-1422 (c)
Lea Thompson PO Box 741 Madison, NC 27025 Peace of Eden Farms llamalea@earthlink.net	Treasurer Rockingham Co. North Central District	336-427-2049 (h) 336-812-5400 (c)
Dwight Austin 858 John Kline Rd Taylorsville, NC 28681 Ginger Creek Vineyards dwaustin1952@hotmail.com	Past President 2006-2007 Alexander Co. West Central District	828-312-4362 (c)
DISTRICT DIRECTORS Peggy & Walter Edmondson PO Box 1031 Robersonville, NC 27871 Edmondson Farms p_edmondson@hughes.net w_edmondson@hughes.net	Martin Co. Northeast	252-847-4289 (o) 252-795-3192 (h) 252-917-2319 (c)
Sam Thompson PO Box 741 Madison, NC 27025 Peace of Eden Farms llamalea@earthlink.net	Rockingham Co. North Central	336-427-2049 (h) 336-812-5400 (o)
Jonathan Bullock 1224 Old Lystra Road Chapel Hill, NC 27517 Old Sparrow Farm LLC Jonathanbullock@gmail.com	Orange Co. North Central	919-400-3042 (c)
Tami Thompson 3583 Packing Plant Road Smithfield, NC 27577 Lazy O Farm dtdjthompson@sprintmail.com	Johnston Co. Southeast	919-934-1132 (h) 919-631-7857 (c)
Bonnie Boyette 1387 Loop Road Clayton, NC 27527 Boyette Farms, Clayton Fear Farm, Lights on the Neuse bonnie.boyette@gmail.com	Johnston Co. Southeast	910-553-4094 (h)
Geraldine Herring 1959 Regan Church Road Lumberton, NC 28358 Herring Farms geraldineherring@hotmail.com	Robeson Co. South Central	919-739-5906 (h) 919-608-7015 (c)
Andrew Gillis 7715 Climbing Tree Lane Fayetteville, NC 28306 Gillis Farm andrewgillis@gillishillfarm.com	Cumberland Co. South Central	910-850-3859 (c)
Reba McInnis 367 Sheffield Road Mocksville, NC 27028 Ijames Heritage Farm toddREBA367s@yadtel.net	Davie Co. West Central	336-407-2900 (c) 336-492-7529 (h)
Loch Hoffman 7155 Rhoney Road Connelly Springs, NC 28612 Beans 'n' Berries CSA lochhoffman@yahoo.com	Burke Co. West Central	828-403-6989 (o) 919-604-1024 (c)
Barbara Harrell 467 Byrd Road Bakersville, NC 28705 Harrell Hill Farms barbarabharrell1@aol.com	Mitchell Co. West	828-688-9188 (h) 828-467-0280 (c)
William I. (Bill) Young 1116 Shoal Creek Road Burnsville, NC 28714 Youngs Trees & Nursery stevenayoung@verizon.net	Yancey Co. West	828-682-7956 (h) 828-208-0006 (c)

Martha Glass, Editor Agritourism Office 1020 Mail Service Center Raleigh NC 27699-1020 919-733-7887 www.ncagr.gov/agritourism www.visitncfarms.com

"Agritourism - It's Value-Added Agriculture"