Free-choice learning in agritourism

Agritourism is an effective way to promote sustainable agricultural practices and agricultural literacy. As such, agritourism is an increasingly important way for the general public to learn about agricultural practices, issues, and concepts. It is commonly assumed that agritourism experiences result in learning, yet there is very little research that demonstrates this or explores what kind of learning is possible. This research used personal meaning maps to understand visitors' free-choice learning in different agritourism contexts. The data was analyzed using a mixed-methods approach, where the qualitative data provided insight into the categories of agricultural learning, and the quantitative data demonstrated how much learning occurred in relation to extent, breadth, depth, and mastery of learning. This research found that all forms of agritourism broadly supported visitors' free-choice learning but occurred primarily in relation to breadth and extent, rather than depth and mastery of learning. Supporting prior research in agritourism and learning, these results demonstrate the effectiveness of all forms of agritourism in facilitating meaningful learning but that many of these learning opportunities remain poorly planned for. Deeper and more complex forms of learning are possible when intentionally linking agritourism experiences to agricultural literacy goals.