Agritourism: An Educational Tool for the Students with Agro-food Profile

Abstract

Agritourism is an incredible educational tool with varied expected effects on the educational plan. Pupils, students, teenagers and adults understand better: the rural traditional culture, the production and the distribution processes of the agricultural products, the importance of healthy food in people's lives, the preservation of the environment, etc. Educational agritourism is an alternative form of mass tourism for areas where the latter cannot be organized. The educational agritouristic activities for the students with agricultural major envisage: a thorough understanding of the public function of agriculture, raising awareness for healthy food, developing healthy dietary habits, learning the way in which the agricultural products are produced and marketed, first-hand experience along the whole agricultural year. Furthermore, students can have a better understanding of the life in the rural areas and this can make them want to keep the agriculture culture, perpetuate the traditions. They are given the opportunity to experiment new situations and establish an emotional and direct contact with nature. As for the teaching higher education staff, the benefits will consist in the introduction of the environmentally friendly agricultural products in the faculty, in teaching the theoretical and practical knowledge needed for the new agricultural technology.

Full text

Procedia Economics and Finance 39 ( 2016 ) 83 – 87
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
2212-5671 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEMTUR- 2015
doi: 10.1016/S2212-5671(16)30244-1
ScienceDirect
3rd GLOBAL CONFERENCE on BUSINESS, ECONOMICS, MANAGEMENT and TOURISM,
26-28 November 2015, Rome, Italy
Agritourism: An Educational Tool for the Students with Agro-Food
Profile
Ioan Petromana, Melania Vargaa, Elena Claudia Constantinb
*
, Cornelia Petromana,
Bogdan Momira, Bogdan Turca , Iuliana Mercea
aBanat`s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania” from Timisoara, Faculty of Agricultural
Management, 119 Calea Aradului, 300645, Timisoara, Romania
bUniversity Politehnica Timisoara, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, 2 Petre
Ramneantu Street, 300596 Timisoara, Romania
Abstract
Agritourism is an incredible educational tool with varied expected effects on the educational plan. Pupils, students, teenagers and
adults understand better: the rural traditional culture, the production and the distribution processes of the agricultural products,
the importance of healthy food in people’s lives, the preservation of the environment, etc. Educational agritourism is an
alternative form of mass tourism for areas where the latter cannot be organized. The educational agritouristic activities for the
students with agricultural major envisage: a thorough understanding of the public function of agriculture, raising awareness for
healthy food, developing healthy dietary habits, learning the way in which the agricultural products are produced and marketed,
first-hand experience along the whole agricultural year. Furthermore, students can have a better understanding of the life in the
rural areas and this can make them want to keep the agriculture culture, perpetuate the traditions. They are given the opportunity
to experiment new situations and establish an emotional and direct contact with nature. As for the teaching higher education staff,
the benefits will consist in the introduction of the environmentally friendly agricultural products in the faculty, in teaching the
theoretical and practical knowledge needed for the new agricultural technology.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.
Keywords: farm tourism; education; direct educational activities; students;
* Elena Claudia Constantin Tel.: +40 770 150 823
E-mail address: elclconst@gmail.com
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEMTUR- 2015

84 Ioan Petroman et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 39 ( 2016 ) 83 – 87
1. Introduction
The term agritourism is generally used to describe any type of activity based on the relation between agriculture
and tourism. It designates an old concept, the same type designated by the other types of tourism, bounded
particularly by practicing tourism in the rural areas: i.e.: agrarian tourism, agricultural tourism, farm tourism, village
tourism, countryside tourism and recreational-educational rural tourism. All these forms of tourism tend to focus on
the main types of activities practiced by the visitors in the rural environment. The main purpose consisting in
becoming accustomed with the customs and the traditions of working the land, raising animals, craftsmanship; each
activity leading to developing new knowledge about rural culture (Benea, Petroman: 2006; Mot, Petroman: 2014;
Petroman et al, 2014).
The rural tourism is totally opposite to the urban tourism as its main purpose is to become aware of the rural
culture, farm activities in rural areas, local authentic values, etc. Thus people will be able to value more the cultural
identity (Momir et al, 2014). The rural tourism has other advantages as well, i.e.: learning how to prepare local
food, learning about the natural resources and the heritage of the rural communities, etc. Romanian traditional food
is not very well known around the world; however “those who have tasted it once will never forget it” (Constantin,
2014). More than this, rural tourism is a benefit for those looking for the specific tranquility of the rural areas, it
brings to light the life, art, culture of the rural heritage; “to take part and to learn real activities is the essence of life
at the country side”(Petroman 2013, p. 34, our translation).
Even if it is seen as a form of school tourism, the rural tourism and agritourism are less attractive than the
adventure tourism, but it can be a strategy, worth taking into consideration, for the training the young people who
are preparing to become specialists in various fields, i.e.: technical, biology, forestry, agro-zootechnical, etc.
Specialists make the distinction between the activities inside an agro-touristic farm and those outside it. They
think that even if agriculture is the main activity in the rural area, the activities that take part outside the farm such
as: craftsmanship, wood sculpture, leisure activities are becoming more and more important (Holmes, Tschanz,
2004; Petroman et al., 2015)
2. Material and method
To emphasize the educative role of the agritourism, we suggest several activities that can contribute to the
cultural and educational development of the students who are trained to become specialists in the agro food sector,
with emphasis on the activities where the involvement of those willing to learn is directed to favour the
implementation of the theoretical knowledge in the practical activities.
3. Results and discussions
The agro-touristic activities have an educative character and they need to fulfill several characteristics: to take
part in a rural area or at an agro touristic farm, to bring benefits to the agricultural industry, to have as a basis the
activities or products offered by the producers, to have a direct contact between the agricultural producer and the
student to be trained or the visitor of the rural residence.
The educational agritourism is a kind of strategy in order to use a farm to attract tourists and students for
educative purposes, either for fun or for active involvement in the farm activities or in the rural environment. This
type of tourism is also an alternative to increase the income and the potential economic viability of small farms and
of the rural community and a way to support the agricultural economy, when the local agricultural producers are no
longer competitive.
The educational agritourism can be developed as a basic component of a business model able to support the
agricultural entities to promote their activities at various festivals, i.e.: the agro-tour type. It can also lead to set up
leisure farms for people interested in exclusive agricultural activities: mostly students, in our case. In these types of
activities people cannot only experience common agricultural products, but also food, walks in corn field labyrinths,
direct contact with farm animals, contention, cow milking, and equitation.
Several requirements need to be fulfilled so that the educational effect be at the level imposed by the educational
trainers:

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Ioan Petroman et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 39 ( 2016 ) 83 – 87
1. The planning of the visit or of the training stage depends greatly on the season and on the specific activities
that take place at a farm in a certain time of the year. We suggest a prior discussion between the accompanying
teacher and the farm owner. The latter is not only the host, but also an educator in charge of transmitting valuable
information to the students preparing to become experts in the agro food field. The students who take part actively in
the farm activities can be remunerated or be offered a meal with the products at which they contributed and at the
technological fluxes they witnessed.
In the case when the educational agritourism activity consists only in a farm visit, either fees have to be
considered, as this is a common practice, or visitors are given the opportunity to buy specific farm products.
2. The management of the general activities. In planning the activities at an educative agritouristic farm, the
farmer has to take into account the following aspects for an effective training of the students:
- flexible way in planning the activities;
- offer each student the possibility to take part at every practical planned activity;
- establish clear rules to make the visit secure and comfortable, and without disturbing the farm activity.
3. The management of the group of students and their safety. The management of the behaviour of the group of
the students who take part in the practical training or who visit an agritouristic farm is the responsibility of the
teachers and of the accompanying staff. The success of the activity depends entirely on the cooperation of the parties
involved; the information needed for the practical training can be sent only if the visitors’ group is eager to know.
We think that it is needed to introduce a supplementary type of management, i.e.: the management of the impact
of the visitors on various areas of the educative agro touristic farm. Therefore, we elaborated several strategies and
visitor management practices function to the area of the farm where the practical training or where the educative
visit takes part.
On the above mentioned area the following strategies and politics are to be considered:
• on the alleys on the farm, impact resistant vegetation are to be planted;
• on the field - the visitors’ paths have to become overgrown with grass;
- set up programs to eliminate invasive plant species;
- set up special places for resting and eating;
• inside the farm: build access areas to ensure the protection of the visitors and limit the contact with
dangerous animals;
- cover the canal holes to ensure safe movement;
- announcements- to give instructions for visitors.
In the case of educative vegetal agro touristic farms, the most popular activity is “pick with your own hand”; a
kind of recreational educational tourism for students and the same time a source of income for the farmers.
A practical training model, based on seasons could consist of:
Spring:
- technological training of vegetable growing;
- lessons given by the producer;
- fruit and vegetable presentations, etc.
Summer:
- preliminary explanations on the crop maintenance (herbicidation, weeding, fertilizer administration, etc.)
- cereal harvesting;
- picking fruits and vegetables;
- walks on the wheat field;
- traditional way of preparing bread;
- learning the baking technique and boiling corn technique.
Autumn:
- picking fruits;
- learning the wine technology: preparing, storing wine;
- learning the traditional way of preparing canned vegetables and pickles;
- learning the traditional way to make prepare a traditional sheep cheese, branza de burduf;
Winter:
- learning the methods of pruning fruit trees and vines;

86 Ioan Petroman et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 39 ( 2016 ) 83 – 87
- learning the technology of preparing the traditional pork meat products.
In the case of the animal farm agritourism or the educative agritouristic farms, of mini zoo type, the most popular
type of educational activity is to learn to care for your favourite animal. This is a kind of both recreational tourism
and education one, for those who are specializing in the agricultural field because they can apply firsthand the
theoretical knowledge they acquired, under the direct supervision of the farmer and the accompanying teachers. The
chance to interact with animals can be a wonderful learning experience, not only for students but also for the adults.
At this time, we have to highlight that even if the healthy animals could be carriers of bacteria that could make
people ill, most people do not get sick by simply touching an animal. The truth is that certain categories, i.e.: very
young people, very old people, pregnant women and any people irrespective of their age, with a deficitary immune
system are at risk of getting sick because of the bacteria carried by the animals from an agritourism farm.
That is why we are suggesting several monthly educational activities that can take place on a farm without
endangering the lives of those who, for their education, interact with animals. In January, you can visit the farm to
see new-born lambs, goat kids, to observe their behavior or the behaviour of the lactating females, or simply enjoy a
ride with a horse drown sledge.
In February, people can interact with the new-born foals or even take care of the horses. In March, they can
admire the flocks of sheep in the field, can hike or enjoy a ride with a horse drown cart. During the months April
and May, people can take part at the animal identification, sheep shearing, estimation of sheep products and of the
consumption of traditional food, such as lamb roasted, fresh sheep cheese, balmos (a traditional food made of corn,
milk, cheese, etc.) etc.
In June and July, visitors can observe the behaviors of animals in loose housing or on the pasture and experience
the way of obtaining traditional products. In August and September, students can learn the technology of preparing
dairy products for the winter, how the mutton pastrami is made by the shepherds, etc. In October, students will learn
how to preserve forage for animals and the ways in which the main species of animals are prepared for the winter
period. During the months of November and December when the animals are in housing, students will learn to
appraise the animals, i.e.: estimate production, take part in establishing the yields out of pig slaughtering and learn
the traditional technologies for the preparation of the raw- dried traditional sausage.
It is essential to understand that the main purpose of educational agritourism farm is, besides the practical
training of the future specialists in the agricultural field, the sale of products produced in farms.
Thus we give some suggestions for the “market management" of the educational agritourism farm:
- display of the price for the products exhibited at the farm entry;
- priority in the display of the seasonal products, such as strawberries, tomatoes, cherries;
- free access to products;
- direct sale on the site for the products hand-picked by visitors ;
- provide information about the products;
- group the plant and the animal products;
- offer bonuses to visitors;
- use unique and diverse display devices.
We think that in this way shopping tourist villages can be organized in the areas where there are educative
agritouristic farms; in areas where handmade products can be sold and where the folk craftsmen can make
demonstrations as far as the manufacturing of ceramics or wood products are concerned. This can be a very
profitable experience for those willing to learn new things.
First-hand experience does not always mean an involvement in a practical activity; it can also consist in
watching the stages of a process to be aware of the phases of a technological process, more or less elaborated. The
contact of the students living in urban areas with the vegetables, fruits, dairy products is limited to their use under
different processed forms. They are not aware of the seasonality concept. That is why if practiced at a lower level,
but with a higher cultural, economic and social impact centered on education, agritourism can cover a varied range
of educational- recreational activities, unexpected for those unfamiliar with the rural life, local traditions and
customs.

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4. Conclusions
Educational agritourism as well as its other types of tourisms: agrarian tourism, tourism in the countryside, farm
tourism, rural tourism, etc. denotes any type of activity that is based on the relationship between agriculture and
tourism. The agritourism farm is open to the public looking for amusement and education, pupils and students who
are preparing for the agro food domain. This kind of educative tourism is in the form of educational tourism is
considered a form of strategic alternative to mass tourism in the rural areas where it cannot be conducted due to the
negative impact on the human communities and on the environment.
Agritourism is an incredible educational tool, the agritourism farm having two great educational principles: direct
experience and direct observation.
Although it is considered a form of niche tourism because it addresses a limited number of visitors, the educative
agritourism can also be considered a kind of school tourism that can help educate not only those who are preparing
for the agricultural field, but also those seek the tranquility of the rural areas and at the same time interested in the
traditional rural art and culture.
Acknowledgements
This paper was published under the frame of European Social Fund, Human Resources Development Operational
Programme 2007-2013, project no. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132765.
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