The Role of Agritourism Microentrepreneurship and Collective Action in Shaping Stewardship of Farmlands

Agritourism has been promoted primarily as a way to mitigate economic challenges faced by small-scale family farmers, but it may also foster land stewardship and promote agricultural literacy. There very little research on these relationships. We employed qualitative approach assess how farmers’ involvement in agritourism microentrepreneurship shapes their of farmlands southeastern North Carolina. Furthermore, we examined social structures, summarized measures collective action, supported or hindered this relationship. find that reasons for participation differed greatly between conventional farmers alternative farmers. While both groups expressed desire reduce illiteracy among the public through agritourism, were motivated sociocultural (e.g., community youth development) while wanted educate visitors about environmentally sustainable food production. Involvement did not directly influence either group Alternative action was important helping them stewardship, they felt restricted geographic barriers preventing from developing trust within community. Conversely, reported deeper cultural roots Thus, does have generalizable impact stewardship; instead, becomes stage which try demonstrate pre-existing ethics.