Got $165/Hour?

Success Story

 Speaker:
Andy Overbay
276-223-2542
aoverbay@vt.edu
VA Tech
In a case study, Andy Overbay, District Program Leader for Virginia Cooperative Extension in Southwestern Virginia, exposes us to a Agritourism success story that saved the family dairy farm. Bobby Williams, owner of Williams Dairy Farm and Orchard in Wytheville, VA had once told Andy that "Extension does nothing" for him. Extension "kept poor managers in business and lowered [his] milk pay price." Eighteen months later, Bobby credits Virginia Cooperative Extension with saving the family farm by assisting them to expand as a tourist destination. A virtual tour of the Williams' Agritourism enterprise will introduce you to many innovations implemented at the orchard as well as explore some of the tough lessons learned by both the Williams and the extension team that serves their needs. Issues discussed will include personality evaluation, corn maze planning, partnering opportunities, crowd control, marketing, and neighbor relations. Among the innovations, you will be introduced to the creation of an attraction that generates $165 per hour using waste apples that were, in the past, destined in the dairy manure pit.

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For more information about the conference, contact the conference co-chairs: Cindy Bigger, cbigger@umn.edu, (888) 241-0843, or Rick Maurer, richard.maurer@uky.edu, (859) 257-7582.

For questions, comments or concerns about the 2006 NACDEP Conference website, contact emilye@srdc.msstate.edu.