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. Agriculture and IOUFISTTI
jam forces rn Kentucky
By Laura Skillman
Jack Hanes was 50 years old "I think it fits our traditional role of
when he took his first horse ride. providing information, generating ideas
Some three years later, he started Long and trying to get people to explore new
K C Trails. opportunities," he said. "Then, of
y Hanes, a retired Tennessee school course, helping with questions that
principal, retumed to the Allen County, come from those."
J Ky., farm that has been in his family for With borrowed money and an agri-
Q about 200 years and needed a way to cultural diversifi- _   ri  M  , .  V . ..  .. , V V _      V  . _ . .. .  c r
make it pay. So he explored options, and cation grant, two I V
after discussions with friends found the barns on the ;
riding trail business was the direction to Hanes farm have S
gO. l)€€I] COI1V€I‘t€d 9  {   V. V _ _ V _  
What Hanes didn’t realize was that into stalls for  ··   ·»*_ 1   ’VV., vi., ,lV ,_,_ V  V   .
he was joining an emerging trend — horses and mules. j     ..V‘  T A Q
people looking at agriculture-based A bathhouse and   ’ ·»t.   _’-:   E ~l_V l i·‘.  
tourism as a means of diversifying their recreational ve- gf i '-ii·     .‘,e’   A -T~.,V:`j··;~·3¥—»k VVVV V, V       VV
farming operations. hicle parking area   l,»;{,'VZl»¥ `it V3"*·§ii‘i§·*;i¥~     .· _‘’—   I A `
Trail rides, produce stands, hunting also have been  _- .`V-VVj_V—? l__i         bh { {-;__l {*’Ii`,I - V I 2
lodges, bed and breakfasts and corn added, along with  I. Vi.; ,t_,V,__   _, EK {V LJ`; V  . A ,  T
mazes are all part of the growing trails that mean- IV      [al} m   _._ ,‘•M;l`]   ‘°’‘ 5**; ·`~‘~—·¢--V   L
agritourism industry in Kentucky. der across Hanes’ V    .....     `sl lll L i~rS`IV I E`}     {fj  
"Agritourism is not a traditional agri- farm and those of _  ° ""  I-¤-*~-—--L:  
culture entity as we’ve thought about several neighbors   `
agriculture, but I think it is a part of the totaling more  i_  V
mix in the new diversification we are than 2,000 acres. ’  . ,_ .  V , . .  . . . .._.  V . , . . . . V . . , V V_ . “
talking about in Kentucky," said Chris There’s even a
Clark, Hart County agriculture and cowboy church above the stalls for Sun-
natural resources agent for the Univer- day services.
sity of Kentucky Cooperative Extension "We were already started in this be-
Service. "It can provide a lot of niches fore I ever heard the term agritourism,
and a lot of opportunity and is some- but that is exactly what we are doing,"
thing we need to be looking at in a seri- Hanes said. "Around 1998 I started re-
ous way." alizing we needed to do something in
Agritourism fits well into the overall order to maintain the family farm. It’s
role of Cooperative Extension, Clark been in the family over 200 years and
said. it’s a hillside farm. All my ancestors
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