ABSTRACTWHERE IS "FUN ON THE FARM" TO BE FOUND? :HOW STRUCTURAL FACTORS AFFECT THE LOCATION OF AGRITOURISM ENTERPRISES IN MICHIGANByKatherine E. Dentzman With growing emphasis on diversifying the agricultural sector, there is increasing interest in developing agritourism especially for small to mid-sized producers. This paper contributes to the literature in this subfield of scholarship by moving beyond the motivations of producers and consumers to consider what structural factors of place might explain the presence of agritourism operations. Using data on agritourism enterprises from the Michigan Agri-Tourism Association, I test three contending hypotheses. The first, derived from the literature on agritourism, argues that urban-ness is the main structural factor determining the presence of agritourism businesses. My second hypothesis, derived from Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, predicts that spatially grouped capitals such as income and education will be the main predictors of agritourism location. This goes beyond pure numbers of people and instead investigates the characteristics these groups possess that may create spaces supportive of agritourism. Finally, I hypothesize that urban-ness and capitals work together to predict the presence of agritourism more effectively than either factor alone. The results show that while spatial capitals are a stronger predictor of the location of agritourism enterprises, urban-ness has a unique multiplier effect that helps counties increase their number of agritourism businesses to three or more. This helps to resolve some debate over the complex effect of urban-ness on agritourism. The implications for future research and policy are discussed.
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