Kansas AgriTourism News
August 2005
Greetings!
While the entire state has been pretty hot and dry for a long time, Kansas agritourism farms are moving steadily towards the fall season with enthusiasm! Many of us have been to the workshops, and we are doing our homework now preparing the promotion and publicity, so we have every reason to expect this to be the best year ever.
One more thing you might want to be working on now is your application for one of the Kansas Agritourism Scholarships (see the article below.) The deadline for applications is October 30, and you know how busy you are going to be in September and October.
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| Becky Walters |
Joel Wimer |
Right now is the time to organize a group to tour other destination properties, and put in for a scholarship to help defray the costs. It's also not too soon to look at the winter conferences and Expos, and start making your plans - especially if those plans might include a scholarship to help pay for your trip!
Please feel free to contact me or Joel Wimer, our vice- chair, regarding the Kansas AgriTourism council. We'd love to learn how the council might help your business grow!
Becky Walters, Chair for the
Kansas AgriTourism Advisory Council
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In This Month's Issue:
Feature Destination:
Holy-Field Vineyard & Winery
When You Must Borrow
Money to Grow Your Business, Part II
Weaving Your Website, Part 3
Getting More Public Relations
Kansas AgriTourism Scholarships
Attraction Development Grant Deadline |
This Month's Featured Destination:
Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery
Mastery, mystery theatre, music, mood, and marketing are the magic words for this month’s featured destination, the Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery in Basehor, Kansas. Owners Les Meyer and his daughter, Michelle Meyer, sell all of the wine they are able to produce, and it looks like – even though they work very hard at it – they are having a great time enjoying life.
Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery covers 30 acres, with a 14-acre vineyard planted with Native American and French Hybrid varieties. The Holy-Field name comes from the street in front of the property, which was known as Holy-Field Road until the name was changed to 158th Street.
The Meyers planted the first vines in 1986, primarily for personal enjoyment. They had not envisioned operating a vineyard and winery, but as the volume increased, and their friends encouraged them, they decided to go for it. They opened the Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery to the public in 1994. For the next four years, they each continued full time jobs in Kansas City while simultaneously running the winemaking business. Finally in 1998, both were able to leave their other employment to dedicate themselves full time to Holy-Field. They now hand craft 15 different wines, and bottle approximately 6,000 gallons of wine per year in the wine cellar beneath the tasting room.
“Our emphasis is placed on growing superior grapes from our own vineyard, and this same care and commitment is blended into each bottle,” said Michelle. A major part of the year, she and her father work branch by branch, row by row, 
pruning the plants to assure every grape the right balance of nutrients, sunlight, and moisture. Both Les and Michelle are well tanned, with sinewy arms and hands shaped from years of pruning. They work swiftly, their hands guided by experience, with a soft conversation between them as they work from opposite sides of the row.
They work just as precisely when it comes time to harvest the grapes by hand, and press them immediately. Great care is taken to ferment, age and bottle the wine, though Les quipped, “If you can cook without a recipe, you can make wine.”
Read more about Holy-Field Winery-
Winner of the Jefferson Cup and Good Business!
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When You Must Borrow Money to Grow Your Business 
As we are either starting or expanding our direct farm marketing businesses,
the inevitable dilemma occurs:
"I don't have enough capital to do it right. Should I borrow, or should I just start small?"
Note: This is the second of a series of articles about this timely dilemma, based on a series of interviews with Dennis Lawson, who works with Kansas farms and ranches for Frontier Farm Credit.
In the first article of this series, we talked about selecting a lender with the same business strategies as yours, and about what kind of information your lender will need before considering your loan application. Now we are going to talk about some of the terminology related to applying for a loan, and how these terms affect your application.
We’ve all heard of “assets” and “liabilities”, and you probably have a pretty good idea what these terms mean. Assets are anything that has a monetary value that is owned or controlled by the operation. It does need to be clear whether the asset is listed at what it cost at the time you purchased it, or whether it is listed at market value (what it is worth today). Ask your loan officer which is preferred. (Note too that market value is not the same as the replacement value.)
To read the rest of this article on assets and liabilities, click here.
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Weaving Your Website
In the first two articles on "Weaving Your Website", we discussed the importance of defining your purpose and audience for your website, and talked about some of the basic design components that make up a good website. Now it’s time to get down to what may be the toughest part of the job – communicating the experience of your farm through words and pictures.
I hope you have realized by now that people are not coming to your farm just to buy your tasty, beautiful, and nutritious fruits and vegetables. In fact, they are not coming just to see your farm. No, they are coming – not to see the farm – but to experience it! They want to breathe the air, see the rolling countryside, taste the fresh apple cider, touch the animals, and yes, smell the unique sweet mixture of hay, fruits, animals, and barnyard.
That’s why they come to the farm and why they return, year after year, season after season – to experience the farm. The challenge in preparing your website is to find ways to help them sense this experience, while still sitting in their family room at the computer. You must find images and words that relate this experience so effectively that they can’t wait to get there with the family!
Here are the four primary rules:
- Use lots of large photos
- Use as few words as possible
- Use descriptive words
- Use action verbs
Click here to read "Weaving Your Website, Part Three"
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Getting More Public Relations
If you think you don't have time for public relations, think again. Beverly Hurley, the Kansas Travel and Tourism Media Representative, puts it very clearly:
"If you wanted to buy a tiny ad in the Kansas City Star, only one column wide and 1 inch tall, you would be asked to pay $466 Now think what that five inch long story about your special event is worth in free publicity!"
Incidentally, if you've got a unique story to tell, Beverly is available to give you free professional help in finding just the right travel writers, editors, newspapers, and magazines. The emphasis here is that your story, event, or agritourism experience needs to be something unique and interesting.
If you think your story qualifies, call or email Beverly with your idea. Her phone number is 913-451-9023, or email her at hurleypr@kcnet .com. If she agrees that your story has a special uniqueness, she'll gladly help you talk to the right people in the right places to get your story told.
Beverly also reminded us that it is crucial that you know and work with the people at your local Convention and Visitor's Bureau (CVB), Chamber of Commerce, and regional tourism offices. They are eager to help you, but if you want their assistance, you need to let them know what's happening at your property.
Beverly stressed that when her office is looking for a particular type property, for example, a hunting experience or a fall farm activity, she sends her querry to the CVB or Chamber. They in turn can direct her office to your farm, and gain you invaluable publicity - if, indeed, you've told your local office about what's happening on your farm. The take home point: make time for publicity. Get to know your CVB and Chamber. And think unique!
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Have you given any more thought to applying for the Agritourism Scholarship?
Have you given any more thought to applying for the Agritourism Scholarship? The Deadline for Applications is October 30, and you know how busy you will be in September and October.
$25,000 is available to help registered Kansas Agritourism operators attend conferences, seminars and educational tours, gain first-hand information regarding practices and techniques used by other agritourism vendors and develop nationwide relationships within the industry.
You should be planning your trip, and submitting your application! One resource for planning your trip is the calendar of events on the Kansas Agritourism website, which lists several of the upcoming winter and spring conferences. Also, if you know of other conferences that might be eligible, please drop us an email with the name, date, location, and website. When we all share ideas, everyone benefits!
Read about the Kansas AgriTourism Scholarships That Are Waiting For You!
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Attraction Development Grant Deadline
The deadline for submitting Attraction Development Grant applications is September 30, 2005. Awards will be announced mid January 2006.
Grant funds may be used for a wide variety of activities necessary to expand the tourism product base, or to develop new tourist attractions. For more information, click here to go directly to the Kansas Dept of Commerce website for an overview of the grant program.
To access the application click here, or go to www.kansascommerce.com, connect code ADGPDOCS. For additional information contact Regina Nicol at Rnicol@kansascommerce.com or (785) 296-6777.
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