Agricultural Landscape

By definition these are lived in landscapes that reflect the complex and ever shifting relationship of man and the environment.  Agricultural landscapes benefit from a regional perspective as farmers and ranchers need to be part of a larger scale community. They need to be part of regional system that offers labor, markets, and agricultural goods and services to sustain their livelihood. Increasingly, agricultural producers are marketing the source of food to add value to their products and to promote the place where the food is grown as a tourism destination.

Examples

Agricultural Heritage Areas – This concept was developed to recognize some of the most iconic agricultural landscapes in the United States, agricultural heritage areas include places like the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod, the wild rice region of northern Minnesota, and the Hatch and Chimayo Chili Regions, New Mexico. Duncan Hilchey a professor at Cornell University has identified ten such places and seeks to make these regions more sustainable through tourism and product marketing. One of these landscapes the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt in New York has become a New York State Heritage Area and is actively marketing the region as an agro-tourism destination.

Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area – Many of the national and state heritage areas have agricultural themes.  For example, the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area preserves and tells the story of American agriculture and its global significance. Located in Northeast Iowa, it is a 37 county region of over 20,000 square miles. Through its many attractions, sites and communities the area interprets the themes of traditional agriculture, farm to factory -agri-business, farmers and families, and agriculture of the future.