Agricultural production.
Until recently, the farm was a dairy farm. Last year, however, they have stopped and are currently converting to organic farming. At the moment, they produce and process only as much as they need for the needs of their guests and for their own personal consumption. The farm is a cattle and pig farm. They produce beef and pig meat. The fruit produced includes apples, pears, strawberries, and apricots. They also grow their own cereals for fodder and for baking bread, such as wheat, buckwheat, etc.
How do you manage your farm and tourism business?
Everybody goes to work as well as farming and tourism, so it’s all very challenging, especially during the high season. They solve this situation by dividing labour and organising their work. The progress of the activity suffers the most, but the current financial situation does not yet allow them to change.
What share of family income does tourism account for (< 25% / 25-49% / 50-75% / > 75%)?
Tourism accounts for 25-49% of their income, the rest is agricultural activity.
Which topics and needs do you consider to be priorities for training programmes?
The most important thing for them is to have knowledge of the agricultural field in which the farm is involved, so that they can have better crops or products and can more easily strive for innovation. Knowledge of legislation and commercial skills are also very important. This makes them more aware of the requirements and makes their work easier. Knowing the legislation and the requirements makes it easier for them to choose the right way of doing business for their needs. How to sell your product is the biggest challenge these days anyway, because there is so much competition in the market and without marketing it is very unlikely to exist. If the farm is also involved in the culinary sector, it is important to be familiar with this area.
What are the skills you want to acquire?
The most important skills for them are knowledge of agriculture, agriculture and tourism-related legislation, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Knowledge of foreign languages is also desirable, at least English, and German are all very welcome.
They do not themselves know of any programme that focuses solely on agri-tourism, except for various occasional seminars, training courses or good practices organised by schools or associations. Such training is extremely important, as it helps them to improve their activities and to acquire new ideas and skills, which is something special because of the link between tourism and agriculture.
Expectations for the near future?
In the near future, they want to complete their goal of transforming their business and start operating at the level they have set themselves. In the agricultural field, they want to increase production volumes through tenders and, if necessary, to set up processing facilities on a larger scale.
