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LEONORA LaPETERGimmicks such as cornfield mazes are helping struggling Florida farmers stay afloat.
OCALA - Like many struggling small farmers, pecan growers Mark and Cheryl Wagner could not make a living off their 24-acre u-pick pecan operation.
So they added a petting zoo with exotic chickens, ducks, pigeons, pheasants, quail and goats. They began selling tarps for $10, exotic chicken eggs for $2 a dozen and Barbados black-bellied sheep for $85 to $150 apiece. They hung up a computer shingle and began servicing Macintoshes in their home.
It all has helped them stay afloat, but one of the biggest draws at Papa Bear's Plantation is an addition they made last year: a 2-mile maze they carved out of a cornfield on the back end of the farm. This year when the pecan crop failed and brought in a mere $500, the corn maze brought in some $8,000 and helped keep them from financial ruin.
"It's a rough way to make a living," said Mr. Wagner, 49, who used to fix Macintosh computers for a living before he bought the farm about 7 miles north of Ocala. "People all over the country, a lot of them like us, mom and pop farms, are trying to augment their lifestyles. ... This was just another way to make a living on the farm."
In Florida and around the country, small farmers are turning to farmer's markets, petting zoos and corn mazes to keep their farms afloat. There are now hundreds of corn mazes across the country and at least five in Florida, all developed in the past three years, stretching from Lantana to Jacksonville.
Eddie and Betty Jean Conner in Hilliard, north of Jacksonville, had to figure out a new plan after Tyson Foods stopped buying the 500,000 chickens they produced each year on their farm. They now supplement a cow and hay operation with an 8-acre cornfield maze designed in the shape of an American flag with an eagle landing in the center and the words "God Bless America" above.
They called it an "agri-tainment park" and offer a corn cannon, hay rides, a tricycle maze, a cow train, farm animals and a country store. The 3-mile maze opened Oct. 18, and they have made some $40,000 charging $6.50 for adults and $5.50 for children. Next year they hope to break $100,000.
"The small farm, like any other business, has got to do something different to compete with the big commercial size farm," said Mickie Swisher, a University of Florida associate professor and an extension specialist at the Florida Cooperative Extension at UF. "It's the Wal-Mart vs. the mom and pop type of question. They're not going to make it on volume. So that's where the corn maze and the petting zoo and the farmers' markets come in. You've got to be really different."
Florida had 44,000 farms in 2002 using some 10.2-million acres. But just six of those farms made more than $100,000 a year, and some 26,000 farms made less than $10,000 a year. Most have to supplement their incomes with one family member working outside the farm.
"Tourism is the No. 1 industry and agriculture is the No. 2 industry in Florida, so it's perfect marriage, this agritourism with corn mazes and farm tours," said Sharon Yeago, chief operations officer for the Alachua County Farmers Market. "They're having to diversify. It's a new way to incorporate what they've already got."
Brett Herbst, a Springville, Utah, resident who designed several cornfields in Florida, attributes the popularity of the mazes to family farmers who are looking for any way to keep from selling their farms to developers or large corporate farmers.
"The American family farm is disappearing slowly," Herbst said. "These farmers are trying to improve their farm, make it a destination place rather than just doing the same thing and getting by."
Herbst, a 32-year-old farmer, has made a living designing some 140 cornfields across the country since 1996. By 2000, he had designed corn mazes for 60 farms. Since then, he has helped another 80 farmers make them. He has come up with some 450 designs, everything from Larry King's face to the statue of Liberty. He says corn mazes with patriotic themes are very popular this year. One in Gainesville at a watermelon and peanut farm has a football, two helmets and the words "Go Florida" beneath.
Herbst said the average farm is making between $20,000 and $40,000 from the maze, though some make more and some less.
But as with any farming, corn mazes can fail. The first year, the Wagners had Herbst design a maze for them and they drew in 1,500 people. But this year, grasshoppers ate their corn. A coffee bean weed sprouted up in its place, and the Wagners let it grow to about 4 or 5 feet. Then Mr. Wagner went through with a land-clearing machine and created a new maze. It wasn't as fancy as the previous year's, but the couple still managed to draw in more than 1,000 people.
Still, like farming, it's a tough way to make a living. Though the Wagners have some family money to fall back on, this year, he signed up online to become an ordained minister so he could perform weddings on the farm. And if he can get the permits, he's thinking of starting an animal auction business in January to supplement the pecans and the tarps and the corn maze.
- Leonora LaPeter can be reached at 727-893-8640 or lapeter@sptimes.com