More gloom for farmers
Farm tourism is not necessarily the answer for Shropshire's ailing agriculture industry, a Shropshire Star investigation has found.
In fact, despite rural tourism taking the spotlight since the foot and mouth devastation of 2001, it accounts for less than 10 per cent of employment. Manufacturing, meanwhile, employs one in four rural workers.
Yet diversification grants are still utilised to transform outbuildings into a variety of uses, from B&Bs to children's nurseries and conference centres.
Nick Evans, who runs the Centre for Rural Research at University College Worcester, warned that farm tourism was not a "get rich quick" scheme.
"Self-catering accommodation ventures are the ones that most farmers want to diversify into," he said. "Unfortunately, this is also the form of diversification venture that most frequently fails to be successful.
"Setting up a tourism venture can require a large initial capital investment - money that struggling farm businesses simply do not have," he says.
l Special report in tonight's eight-page Farming Scene supplement
