Grand Rapids
Local farmers tapped into the agri-tourism industry recently got a boost from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The West Michigan Tourist Association was recently awarded a Specialty Crop Grant from the Department of Agriculture.
The grant’s purpose is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops: fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, culinary herbs and spices and medicinal herbs.
The tourist association — which represents the West Michigan region from Northwest Indiana to the Straits of Mackinac and the west half of the Lower Peninsula — will focus its marketing efforts on bringing further awareness to agri – tourism at specialty crop farms and markets across West Michigan.
The efforts of this grant are already in full swing. WMTA launched the new “Find Your Flavor” campaign in January that lets visitors and residents know that they can use WMTA.org/ag to find information on all the specialty crops produced in West Michigan. On this webpage, tourists can find a farm market or U-Pick farms to visit on their vacation.
With the grant funds, WMTA has advertised the website with a regional agri-toursim marketing program that includes forty billboards with the “Find Your Flavor” tagline, new public relations software, a Google adwords campaign, an agri-toursim section in the 2012 Carefree Travel Guide, an agri-tourism section on WMTA.org, and travel show banners.