News Release Distributed 05/04/15
BATON ROUGE, La. – A tour of small local family farms north of Baton Rouge is scheduled for May 17.
Sponsored by the Louisiana Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program, the tour will provide an opportunity for urban consumers to visit local sustainable farms and to appreciate the contribution of these local businesses to our local food system, said Carl Motsenbocker, LSU AgCenter horticulture professor and one of the tour coordinators.
The program is a collaboration between the Southern University Agricultural Center and the LSU AgCenter to provide sustainable agriculture extension programming in Louisiana, he said.
This is the fourth year of the farm tour and the first time that the program is sponsored by Southern and the AgCenter through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said AgCenter extension associate Ann Savage.
“We are pleased that we are able to offer the tour to the local community,” she said
The tour will provide a forum to educate and connect the public to farms in the area so they may better understand what sustainable agriculture entails, Savage said.
Participating farms produce fruits and vegetables, pastured poultry, goats and sheep as well as a dairy, offering participants to see a variety of operations.
“The Southern University Ag Center has long been involved with sustainable agriculture with emphasis on small-scale and limited-resource farmers,” said Mila Berhane, one of the tour coordinators and an agriculture specialist with the Southern Ag Center. “This is a great opportunity to visit and learn from these farmers.”
The one-day tour will begin at noon and end at 5 p.m. Because the tour is self-guided, participants may drive themselves and follow a map that gives details of each of the five participating farms.
“They do not have to spend the entire five hours,” Motsenbocker said.
“This is a great time with heightened interest in consumers wanting buy local product and support family farms,” Motsenbocker said. “This tour provides an opportunity for the public to visit family farms in the area.”
The farm tour will begin at Luckett Farm in Pride and end at McKowen Farm in Jackson. All of the farms on the tour are family-owned sustainable farms.
The McKowen Farm will include a number of activities led by docents from the Louisiana Area Sustainable Stock Society and Louisiana Ranchers and Farmers related to animal enterprises. Representatives from the USDA will demonstrate the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s rainfall simulator on the farm. Participants who are at the McKowen Farm at 5 p.m. will have an opportunity to taste local farm products sponsored by the McKowens and Slow Food Baton Rouge.
They are encouraged to bring their own drinks and side dish items, and a blanket if they would like to picnic, Savage said.
Although the self-guided tour is free of charge, registration is requested and is available online at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/louisiana-sare-farm-tour-tickets-16238786648. Those who register will receive maps and instructions to the farm tour.
Rick Bogren