Jake Flannick

Citizen-Times correspondent

Working to strengthen the relationship between farmers and consumers, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is finalizing preparations for a two-day farm tour that will offer a glimpse into how food is grown and harvested in the region.

In its ninth year, the tour is expected to draw a large turnout this weekend, covering nearly two dozen farms throughout the area.

The idea is to help people better “understand the scale of agriculture” in a part of the state where sustainable living is a major focal point and where the local food system has flourished, said David Smiley, a program assistant for ASAP.

Scheduled for June 25 and 26, the self-guided tour includes 20 family-owned farms grouped together in six areas, from Black Mountain to Leicester to Madison County. Several are new to the tour this year.

It will involve cooking and other demonstrations, encounters with farm animals and activities for youngsters. Each farm will have its own guide, and volunteers for ASAP will help field any questions along the way.

Roughly 2,000 people are expected to turn out for the tour, another indication that “people have a demand for local food” in Western North Carolina, said Scott Bunn, development director for ASAP. The tour is sponsored by several businesses, many of them in Asheville.

A mixture of livestock and produce operations, the farms vary in size. Perhaps the biggest is Hickory Nut Gap Farm, a long-established cattle and poultry operation stretching over 90 acres in Fairview, about 15 miles southeast of Asheville.

But there is at least one common thread: They are all family owned, from fairly new ones to others that have remained in the same family for generations.

For its part, ASAP has grown considerably in the years since it became an independent nonprofit in the early 2000s, as part of a movement to preserve the region’s rich agricultural heritage and to strengthen the local food system. These days, it arranges school field trips to farms, runs a local food campaign and organizes farmers’ markets.

Moreover, it works with more than 700 family-owned farms within a 100-mile radius of Asheville, or what it calls the Appalachian growing region, offering to certify their products with its own seal.

Food from that region is the “truest definition of local,” said Smiley, the program assistant. He cited findings from ASAP’s research department, which analyzes things like consumer demand and trends in agriculture.

Despite rising land costs and waning interest in farming among younger generations, the amount of farmland in WNC has not decreased in recent years, Bunn said.

At the same time, farming here seems to have proved more prosperous in recent years, with farmers in the region experiencing a 70 percent increase in direct sales between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture census. Meant to track agriculture nationwide, the census is conducted every five years.

That increase was significantly higher than the average increase nationally, which was less than 10 percent. And in the rest of North Carolina, direct food sales decreased.

The draw to local food here is “really strong,” Bunn said, citing an efficient food system and a high concentration of small farms. He noted that although the region is home to an eighth of the state’s population, it has one-fourth of its farms.

IF YOU GO

What: Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project 2016 Farm Tour.

When: noon-5 p.m. June 25-26.

Where: Nearly two dozen farms throughout the region.

Tickets: $30 per carload in advance; $40 if bought the weekend of tour. Tickets cover both days. Visit asapconnections.org for tickets or more information.