Michael Mayfield

Staff Photo by Dan Henry Michael Mayfield is silhouetted while looking at the property that he and his father recently decided to put in a land conservation easement while at his parents home in Athens, Tenn., Friday, February 1, 2008. Mr. Mayfield, president of Mayfield Dairy Farms, included nearly 700 acres in the easement.

With a little bit of state help, Michael Mayfield is using the closeness of Interstate 75 to boost his farming income.

In the new lingo of farming, his effort to bring customers to his Mayfield Farm and Nursery in McMinn County -- and give them something to buy, see and do -- is called agritourism.

This year, he is among 33 farmers statewide to receive Tennessee Department of Agriculture diversification grants for agritourism, and he's among 192 to receive investment help in new or emerging areas of agriculture.

"If you're an apple grower and you want to start making applesauce or apple pies at your farm, that's value-added farming," he said. "And if you want to bring customers to your farm to buy it there, that's agritourism."

Mr. Mayfield noted that each year more than 15 million vehicles travel past his farm on nearby I-75. Through the grants, he has been allocated $7,955 for advertising, signs, an intercom, irrigation and training at a farm conference next year.

"East Tennessee is a huge area for tourism," he said. "Agritourism promotes small farms and promotes tourism, too."

In Hamilton County, Thomas O'Neal and his organic Signal Mountain Farm have been allocated $10,701 in grant money. Mr. O'Neal said he will buy and build three greenhouse-like structures called high tunnels. Though unheated, the 96-foot-by-36-foot tunnels will allow longer growing seasons for his salad crops.

"You can get a tractor in and out of them and still grow plants in the ground," he said.

In all, 14 local farmers in eight Southeast Tennessee counties have been allocated $53,290 of nearly $1 million in awards announced by Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens.

The grants, funded from the state tobacco tax, reimburse 35 to 50 percent of a farmer's investment in emerging farm techniques such as agritourism, aquaculture, organics, value-added products and viticulture.

"This program is making a real difference for producers who want to be farming in the future and who have an entrepreneurial mindset to succeed," Mr. Givens said.

GRANTS AWARDED

County Farms Allocations

Bradley 2 $11,143

Franklin 3 $16,055

Grundy 1 $3,338

Hamilton 2 $12,929

McMinn 2 $18,452

Polk 2 $5,131

Roane 1 $8,750

Sequatchie 1 $2,016

Source: Tennessee Department of Agriculture

STATEWIDE GRANTS BY CATEGORY

Agritourism: 33

Aquaculture (fish farming): 1

Fruits and vegetables: 42

Honey bees: 29

Horticulture: 42

Organics: 16

Value-added products: 9

Viticulture (the study of grape cultivation for winemaking): 20

Source: Tennessee Department of Agriculture