While tourism may seem pretty unconventional for a farmer, it need not be. Few of our 43,000 farmers will find in tourism real replacement income, but there is no reason why the visitation industry could not be a logical supplement in specific instances.
Tourism means different things to different people.
Tourism can be a weekend escape for a young couple at a bed and breakfast, a parent and child escaping to a fishing lake or hunting cabin, or a classroom of schoolchildren riding on a tractor-pulled flatbed trailer. It can even be a trip to the woods to cut your own firewood. While I have not seen any in Mississippi, some farmers in other areas of the country have even created mazes in crop fields for children to walk through. These ideas and many others can provide that extra boost in income that can make the difference in profitability for the family farm. I speak from personal experience.