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Eco Agro Tourism



I have introduced Eco Agro Tourism in Sweden. It means tourists come and
stay on eco farms, eat home grown products and learn about the country they
visit through eco farmers. This means that the farms get payed for the
extra values that we usually donŽt get payed for at all. We sell life
style. So it answers a bit the question of how to educate consumers. During
the holidays they are more open for new impressions than working days. What
I liked about the ECEAT project (European Center of Eco Agro Tourism) is
that the tourist buys the catalogue so it doesnŽt cost for the farmer to be
in it. This also means that those who come are well motivated. I had one
ECEAT tourist on our farm the year before we really set out and it was very
nice. Now weŽll see. We are now fourty farms in Sweden. The ECEAT project
has grown very fast in Europe since 1992 and is now established in 23
countries and the number of farms in the countries it is established in is
also constantly increasing.

I now chair the national swedish ECEAT and our place is one of the farms in
the first catalogue.

I think ECEAT has quite a bit in common with the CSA idea and I wonder if
there is anything like it in the USA. If not, I think CSA farms would be an
ideal start for ECEAT tourism.

The ECEAT web page is http://www.pz.nl/eceat

Hans von Essen, Sweden