Oregon’s Rugged Country: What Agritourism Can Do For Us

Quotes Courtesy of Karie Walchli

Karie Walchli, regional Eastern Oregon tourism advocate, wears many hats. She is contracted with both Umatilla and Morrow counties, also known as Oregon’s Rugged Country, and serves to bring tourism development opportunities to our area. Karie is also the Vice President on the Eastern Oregon Visitor’s Association (EOVA) Executive Board, representing both counties of Oregon’s Rugged Country, as well as representative of our region on the Travel Oregon Food and Farm Trails Program. “Oregon’s Rugged Country is one of four regions within 11 counties of EOVA. Eastern Oregon makes up the largest land area within the Travel Oregon, or Oregon Tourism Commission, programs’ seven regions statewide, but we have the smallest population.”

In our area, Karie is heavily involved with the Whisky & Rocks Farm Trails and is currently planning an update to the program including all of the new businesses that have sprung up since the last print in 2018. Agritourism is especially great for communities and local economies for a number of reasons; according to emerging data, 90% of high school students can’t trace their food beyond the grocery store, 53% of leisure travelers choose their destination based on food, and leisure travelers spend 25% of their budget on food & drink. There are stories at every level of the food chain:

1.      Growing

2.      Harvesting

3.      Processing

4.      Packaging

5.      Transporting

6.      Marketing

7.      Distributing

8.      Purchasing

9.      Consuming

10.  Disposal/recovery

A big part of Karie’s work is “connecting resources and providing networking communities. Agritourism is especially on fire right now, but [she will work with] tourism on any level.” For example, if a business needs assistance sourcing local produce or other agricultural products, she can connect businesses that supply what is needed in the local chain. “Especially in Milton-Freewater being on the highway, there’s lots of traffic. People are stopping; when people patron your business, that’s putting a certain amount of money back into the community which is allowing other businesses to grow and supporting your business growth.”

In the very least, using Oregon Tourism Information System (OTIS) is a good way to get information to people who are searching for things to do, eat, drink, and observe. “We’re a good resource for moving information. We’ll gather up your information and photos, and spread that to our regional and local destinations.”

Many local industries don’t realize how they can participate in Agritourism and don’t harness the power of what networking within their sector can do for them. “Retail businesses that source local ingredients, restaurants, Farmer’s Market vendors, culinary industry, and people who partner with agricultural businesses” are all eligible to participate in Agritourism!

For more information on Oregon’s Rugged Country, go to https://visiteasternoregon.com/oregons-rugged-country/

Email Karie at karie.walchli@umatillacounty.gov