The fourth committee is organizing tours for people such as tour bus guides and local reporters to help better educate them about agricultural tourism. Green County farmers already have experience hosting visitors during the annual Monroe Cheese Days. Green county Tourism Director Larry Lindgren says these farmers are set to go ahead with more formal agricultural tours next year. The tours will combine a farm visit with a visit to a local cheese factory and a picnic lunch. Another farm interested in hosting an organized tour is Sinsinawa, a 200-acre Grant County farm devoted to sustainable agriculture and run by the Dominican Sisters.
Education plays a major role at the farm, which has an orchard, dairy and beef cows, and hogs.
The project will help expose farmers to the tourism industry and farm vacations as a way to possibly supplement incomes, he adds. While farm families probably wouldn't make a lot of money through farm tours, they would be compensated for their time, says Lewis. Farmers could earn additional income through the sale of farm products, crafts, and recreational activities. Below are results from the 1990 survey of Monroe Cheese Days and Picnic on the Farm visitors. The first table shows the degree of interest in a proposed agricultural tour.