Comments about ‘'Agri-tourism' benefits farm, students’

It used to be that farms simply grew food, but as America imports more and more food from China and South America, the American farmer's livelihood has become threatened. Many farmers are selling out to developers to take farmland out of production to build homes. It may seem sad that farmers now need to turn to "edutainment" -- mixing of education with entertainment -- but it encourages young people (absorbed with video games and urban lifestyles) to understand how food gets on their dining room tables.

The other big income opportunity for the American farm is renewable energy -- bio-fuels, solar, and wind power in particular can be easily integrated into rural communities and on farm/ranch lands, providing steady incomes for farmers and agricultural lands. Thus, farmers will not only grow our food but our energy as well -- domestic, price-stable, no-wars needed.

With the increasing numbers of people leaving rural places to find work elsewhere, many of America's farm states across the Midwest have actually experienced population losses. Renewable energy will provide these places new industry that will keep kids from leaving the farm, create local job/career opportunities, and preserve a cherished way of life.

That kid looks stoked!