UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State Extension once again is offering its Retail Farm Market Bus Tour.
Taking place Sept. 11-12, this tour is for retail farm market professionals and is held at the height of the season to enable participants to learn from their regional farm market peers during their best and most robust season.
The event will include behind-the-scenes tours and information directly from farm market owners, including unique display and merchandising ideas and information on market expansion and farm transition.
The tour will visit unique farms in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York over two days, highlighting agritainment, farm market development, diversification of products, customer relations and other topics.
The rolling classroom environment enables market owners and managers to share lessons learned and season highlights and to discuss pertinent topics as they travel between tour locations.
The tour brings unexpected learning opportunities and beneficial networking connections to its participants, organizers noted.
Leaving from the Lehigh County Ag Center, located next to Dorney Park in Allentown, the tour on Day 1 will focus on agritourism and marketing with stops at markets in northern Pennsylvania and an overnight stay at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton. Day 2 will feature some premier markets in southern New York before returning to Allentown.
Organizers said owners and managers of retail farm markets — and anyone planning or thinking about opening a retail farm market or agritourism operation — can come away from the tour with new ideas on products, merchandising and displays.
They pointed out that one of the biggest benefits of the tour is the peer-to-peer networking that takes place on the bus and with the markets that attendees visit.
More information about the tour is available on the Penn State Extension Web site at https://extension.psu.edu/are-you-crazy-retail-farm-market-bus-tour.
Questions can be directed to Brian Moyer, education program associate for Penn State Extension, at bfm3@psu.edu or 484-269-0229.