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- Agricultural tourism is an experiential type of travel that involves visiting a farm, ranch, or other ag-based business.

The purpose like other attractions, is to entertain, educate, and sell services or products.

The first Ag experience is offered by a couple who own and operate a bed and breakfast on a historical South Dakota Ranch.

The family ran bed and breakfast is located inside Badlands National Park Circle.

View Guest Ranch offers a mixture of nature, historic structures and food, all while maintaining an operational cattle ranch.

Phillip and Amy Cruz own and operate Circle View Guest Ranch near interior.

Philip focuses largely on the 150 head cattle operation along the White River while his wife Amy manages the bed and breakfast.

Philip was born and raised here and says he's had a vision to share the 2,800 acres of prairie with visitors since he was a child.

- In 96, I started building this house and I did it all by myself.

My brothers helped.

I'd have work days and they'd come and help and it took me four years.

We opened in 2000.

- The ranch is just outside of Badlands National Park and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

They're close to South Dakota.

Tourist destinations like Wall Drug WildHorse Refuge 1880 town Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

The cruises were married in 2003 and shortly after Philip and Amy began offering a full menu bed and breakfast.

The main guest house offers seven guest rooms with private bathrooms, air conditioning, wifi, and a full ranch style breakfast.

- Seven rooms.

In this house that we rent out, we have two modern cabins and one primitive cabin.

It's an original homestead cabin that we rent out.

And then my parents' house, there's four rooms there that we rent out an Airbnb.

- Phillip says the habits of visitors have shifted over the years, so they purposefully leave certain amenities out of the rooms.

- The people are more into their devices instead of setting out and enjoying the views, a lot of times they're just sat there and I tell 'em, you can do that at home.

Why don't you come out and see the Badlands and see the view.

And I try to encourage 'em to put the devices down.

And we purposely didn't put TVs in the rooms.

We, we wanted them to enjoy the, the area.

You can watch TV when you get home from vacation.

- In addition to the main guest house, visitors can stay in a tree house camping cabin, an original 1880s homestead cabin and a bunk house all offer different amenities and historical context.

The bunkhouse is Philip's childhood home that his parents purchased as a Sears house.

They were sold as buildable kits via Sears catalog and shipped to homeowners by rail.

Philip and Amy renovated the original family home to create a four room rentable.

Bunkhouse.

Philip says The ranch attracts a lot of tourists from - Europe.

I'll show you a map.

I got a map in the house where people put a pin in where they're from and the Germans especially seem to really be attached to the Native Americans.

They wanna see the reservation and so a lot of them will stay here and tour the reservation and go to a sweat lodge or go to a powwow.

- The cruises ranch includes a historical 1880s homestead cabin that they maintain in its original condition.

The homestead cabin does not include running water or electricity and is available for nightly rentals.

- If, if you keep that wood fed, I mean the stove fed, you know Cape Wood in it.

It's real nice.

Mayor.

- The cruises added a commercial kitchen to the main guest house in 2020.

Amy says it became necessary when they decided to offer a full fledged ranch style breakfast to visitors every morning.

Philip says the ranch side of their operation now depends on the bed and breakfast.

- You know, I don't think I would've survived without the income of the bed and breakfast.

The, as you know, the family farm is a, a big struggle to, to pay the bills.

The bills sometimes outweigh the income and so you have to do something else to supplement your income and, and we run the bed and breakfast.

- One of the benefits of the cruise's circle view bed and breakfast is that it connects people back to nature.

- It is good to educate 'em because they have no idea the struggles.

They think it's just easy living being a a rancher.

And - Philip Cruz says Visitors are hungry for that connection with a family farm.

- Hey Jack.

Jack, you gonna say hi?

Yeah, I don't have nothing for you.

- For farmers and ranchers, the operation doesn't need to be a big one.

- Even if you had one room available, it will supplement your income.

You could rent out it.

You could provide meals and charge for the meals.

You can have them watch what what you're doing, not necessarily involve them because you know that insurance gets pretty high if you're doing that, but, but they are interested and that connection is what they're looking for.

- Philip says they had employees in the past, but when Covid hit they had to figure out ways to run the operation as a family.

And that continues to be how the cruises operate.

Their circle view, guest ranch, keeping it all in the family.

Next we visit an organic community garden near Sturgis that invites visitors to stay on their land.

Bear View Gardens offers master gardener programs as well as culinary courses that focus on cooking fresh homegrown produce.

Michelle and Rick Rossick own and operate an organic farm in Sturgis named Bear Butte Gardens.

A couple offer tours of their 120 acre farm, which includes activities designed to educate visitors about agriculture.

- We started out just doing the organic vegetables in the greenhouse and the gardens and then we expanded into poultry and then into the small livestock and then into the beef as well.

- Michelle says they need a combination of customer base services and off-farm income to fund their operation.

- And we try to be pretty diverse, have a lot of different ways that we're getting income coming in.

The agritourism is a strong one, but mostly during the nice weather in South Dakota.

And so then the off season, then we really work on, you know, like today I'm canning a lot and we're drying and freezing stuff to have to sell through the, through the winter six months.

- The Grow six participate in a community supported agriculture pickup model, which helps bring income to the farm.

Customers subscribe to a weekly or biweekly share of fresh organic vegetables.

But with this system, customers pick up their produce, which saves a gross six money on delivery expenses.

- Customers will pay in the late winter or early spring, a set amount, and then they get produce every week through the growing season.

- In 2012, the US Agriculture Department certified Bear Butte Gardens as an organic farm, she says their passion to grow healthy organic food for friends and family has been the primary driving force expanding their farm.

- You know, our goal is to get the the most local healthiest food that we can to to the people that are around us.

- The Grow six add to a commercial kitchen to their farm stand in 2020 to help promote farm to table meals and to attract more visitors.

They rent out the kitchen to private customers, community organizations and offer cooking classes that demonstrate farm to table menus when it's time to cook.

Michelle Gross six says they produce nearly all the ingredients needed for a meal right here on the farm.

- Yeah, so all the vegetables and I like to grow a lot of colorful vegetables 'cause you get different nutrients from the different colors of vegetables.

So a lot of purples and reds and, and of course the greens also.

And then we also do our poultry chickens and turkeys, eggs and goat, goat meat, lamb and beef.

And then any bees too.

- The Grow six enjoy sharing the health benefits of fresh produce during farm visits and cooking seminars.

They say education is a key responsibility to agricultural tourism.

The Grow Six farm stand is open year round and offers products grown on their farm, along with 60 other local producers.

In 2020, they added a studio rental name, the Cottage to their farm.

This Airbnb style lodging offers another way to bring visitors to their farm.

Agricultural tourism is diverse and our next story outlines how running a hunting lodge can contribute to state tourism and help support local communities.

High Prairie Outfitters offers hunting and fishing in the black hills.

The husband and wife team operate more than 300 acres of private hunting habitat is key to producing a wildlife population as an award-winning outfitter.

Dave Sani and his wife Terry know this well.

They built their own wildlife oasis and welcome hunters and anglers throughout the year.

The Ani own and operate High Prairie Outfitters in Spearfish, South Dakota.

The husband and wife team started their new operation two years ago when they bought 300 acres that were habitat ready.

They previously operated a high prairie lodge in Whitewood, South Dakota, where Terry Siani says they were in business for 20 years.

- We have Turkey hunting, we have antelope hunting.

The end of August, early September.

We're coming in now to pheasant and upland waterfowl deer and that will be upland waterfowl continue to the end of January.

- After the CNIs moved their operation, they also changed up their business model.

They no longer offer meals and cut back on the number of hunters they work with.

Terry says cutting back has allowed them to focus more on quality hunts.

Pheasant hunting is a South Dakota tradition and a very big business.

Hunters come from around the world to hunt pheasants and other waterfowl in the state.

- We've been doing this for so long that so many of our hunters have become friends.

So we still have people that come back year after year that again, we just look forward to more as friends hunting together than quote a customer.

And then the new people that come, I haven't met anyone yet I haven't liked and I mean that sincerely.

We get the nicest people.

- Providing habitat for wildlife is a great way to ensure you have an abundance of waterfowl hunting opportunity.

The yanis have planted new trees on their land to shelter their acreage from nearby roads.

They've created nesting locations in their ponds and even have a system of ponds and streams to keep flowing water open all year.

They also build what they call corn ponds where they grow a fuel of corn and then flood the area to provide a direct food source.

All of those methods help their visitors enjoy a successful hunt.

Gary Drews is a commissioner for Pennington County.

He says Agriculture and tourism go hand in hand.

- Tourism is critical to the state of South Dakota and it it fits right along with our number one industry being agriculture.

Quite frankly in the hills, the number one industry may be tourism At this point in time, I've not really looked at those numbers to determine if that's the case or not, but if it's not, number one, it's very close.

It provides a lot of benefits to businesses and the state.

- Agricultural tourism endeavors also provide an opportunity for education.

The ani educate visitors on gun safety, how to properly identify game and how to build and restore habitat.

Hunting and fishing outfits are just one focus for agritourism in the state.

There are many other examples found on farms, ranches and community gardens across the state.

Some visitors are attracted to agricultural tourism because operations can introduce visitors to a process they know little about.

A family farm started by Norwegian immigrants over 100 years ago is now home to descendants who operate the land as a ranch and community education location.

Clinton Kelly Braley operate a cattle operation of around 300 heads while offering a corn maze and beef education to the public.

A South Dakota Ranch with generational roots offers a unique experience for tourists interested in learning where their food comes from.

Clinton Kelly Braley own and operate back 40 beef LLC.

Clint is a fifth generation farmer and rancher whose ancestors settled in South Dakota.

- Our family immigrated here back in 1886 from Germany and Norway.

So we're German Norwegians settled in the prairie pothole region of the Catto Hills here.

Been farming the same ground, you know, for the last a hundred and some years.

Farm with my dad and my mom, and also my wife Kelly who has an aqua farm job.

And then we have two daughters, Kylie and jc.

- The Brandley currently farm corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and run an Angus cattle operation of 300 cows.

They also offer an annual adventure farm with a 12 acre corn maze that offers educational facts on beef and agriculture.

Visitors get a closeup with farm animals, crawl through a hay tunnel and experience local food trucks.

Clint Brandley says it's important to educate the public on where their food comes from while incorporating local businesses in the process.

- People nowadays are four generations removed the from the farm and have literally no idea how their food is made, how it's grown or what goes on on a typical farm nowadays.

So we came up with the idea of corn maze.

So on the corn maze we have different checkpoints that are sponsored by local businesses because we really wanted to include the area.

'cause you know, you go around from town to town, you know, main streets are shrinking, they're kind of dying, but you know, there's still businesses here.

So we really wanted to promo still promote, you know, all the, you know, local businesses.

- The Brandley were awarded Advocates of the Year by Agriculture United for South Dakota.

In 2021, the award recognized the brand Lee's work in sharing agricultural information in their communities and volunteering in an adopt a farmer program, which provides outreach to students.

While participating in the program, Kelly Braley decided nothing should be wasted in the processing of their cattle.

So she started creating beef tallow and soy wax blended candles.

She says the candles reduce overall waste and help her family farm reach into a new market.

- From a beef animal we get to things that we eat like steak, hamburger and all the roast, all that good stuff.

But then we also take the fat and we use it for things like this in our cosmetics also, like beef is used widely in pharmaceuticals to help with maybe curing illnesses or medicines.

And so nothing goes to waste in beef.

And so I thought, I don't want this beef fat to go to waste, so we're gonna use it.

- She says, expanding into a new market and offering public education on beef and agricultural facts follows the why of their operation.

- Like our why is the future our kids.

So we have this farm and we wanna be able to have it for our daughters if they decide that they ever want to come back and farm.

And we wanna have options for them.

So by doing the corn maze, by having maybe doing something with the tallow candles and selling the beef, hopefully we can get to a point where if both of our daughters wanna come back, we can have them both - The brandley operate their adventure farm and corn maze the weekend after Labor Day through the last weekend of October.

Agricultural tourism encompasses a wide variety of skills, education and promotes a connection to the land.

Experiences can be as diverse as the land itself, providing multiple ways to connect - People back to nature.

- When the funding was swept from the horse racing accounts at the time he told me outright, he said, that will be the end of South Dakota horse racing if that is allowed to happen, in which it did.

And we're now 20, 25, 30 years down the road from that.

And he did tell me, he said, if, if anyone is to save South Dakota horse racing, we will have to be you.

- You know, that grand stand as a rule for these two days will be packed.

- Name one second.

- And it's not because they per se go to their horse races, it's 'cause their dad did or their mom did, or their grandma and their granddad.

It's a passed down generation to generation thing.

- It's Charlie, my - Horse.

You know, it's just a, a unique sport - Ing up.

- And I always like to say when the first horses came into this country that there was probably a horse race.

- My horse is faster than yours that does it every time.

- That's a natural human instinct that I, I have something faster or better than you have.

And so we need to compare the two even further down those lines when they would start breeding horses specifically for speed.

It was my breeding lines or outpacing your breeding lines.

So they established their whole breeding herd upon this idea of what they wanted to accomplish.

A lot of horse racing.

I think you can trace back certain thoroughbred lines to maybe two horses - And it was a competition year round, but they had a race meet to decide who had the fastest horse.

And everybody loves a fast horse, you know, and you can always ride a fast horse slow, but you can't ride a slow horse fast.

- You know when those horses come out of the racetrack and they hear their crowd and they swish their tails and they prick their ears and, and they take it all in just, just like all athletes do as they feed off the crowd, - They're precision racing animals.

They're athletes and they train whether they know it or not, but they enjoy it.

You know, it's their nature to go fast.

So all you gotta do is teach 'em how to control it somewhat.

- They come outta that last turn and the, the crowd stands up and cheers.

Those horses feed off of that energy.

And if you get two or three of 'em in front that are, that are very close, they're battling it out and the riders are hollering and they're racing, they're competing.

It's just an electric situation all the way around.

I've probably been in the starting g or behind the starting gate in the last 35 years for over 4,000 South Dakota horse races.

It makes your heart pound, it makes your heart beat, it gets you excited.

It never gets old.

We took the vote in this very room, the board did not to race.

It was probably one of the most difficult decisions that, that I'd ever been involved in.

I mean, it's part of your history, part of your blood and it was springtime and Fort Pier.

You go race horses and to not do that, it was, it was very hard.

Back in the, the early two thousands there was the money that had accumulated in the racing accounts through a four and a half percent tax on the simulcast fees on our off track betting sites.

And there were several at the time.

And the money was flowing into these two accounts that were to incentivize the production of South Dakota bred horses and payout purses for horse racing in South Dakota.

As the money accumulated, they needed it to balance the budget.

And so when they swept the money from the funds, they reallocated it to different portions of state government.

And that mechanism still feeds horse racing to this day.

But we're down to one OTB and that's in North Sioux City.

So as the money comes in, it is very much decreased from back in the day.

So it's like your brick and mortar compared to online.

So we're, we're still back in the brick and mortar stage.

So we need to update the mechanism and get more funding and rebuild South Dakota horse racing.

- It's, it's been, what did they say, 75 years, you know, am missed one year ever in Fort P. It's, it's been a annual thing for the ranchers, for the farmers, for the, the community for, you know, that's a long time.

75 years is a long time.

That's a lot of tradition and I gotta give it to Shane Raey.

He's trying really hard to keep it alive and doing a great job - Since 1948.

What a large impact it has had on the community.

How instrumental it has been.

I mean, we've had families move here specifically because of horse racing.

Just as my grandfather came here for the first VBA meet in 1948.

And so we would see riders come in that would ride here and then they might stay and they would develop their families here.

They would be in the, in the schools and, and trainers would do the same and owners would do the same.

And, and so there's a lot of horse racing blood in the community.

I was three months old in my mother's arms and my granddad's horse, he's holding the horse in the family picture.

It's the, the governor's handicap.

And so that was my first time to the races when I was three months old.

And I have not missed a day in Fort Pierre since that day.

- You got your horses, - Everybody said that, that they couldn't make it, they couldn't make it work, but he's putting it together anyway, you know, and getting it done.

- When they asked me, they say, how can we support you?

What can we do?

I say, come to the horse races, pay your $5.

Come watch.

- I told them when they, when we, they canceled the very first spring meet and, and I made a promise that I'd stay till it was done.

So I'm still here.

- That's the biggest thing you can do and help offset those negative impacts of those funds being swept.

Help us, hang on, help us keep the light on.

- I think that's what they shoot for is, is to break even.

But putting on a show for the, for the locals, they love it here.

People love the races.

If they have 'em, they will come.

- Well I guess, I dunno if it was against all odds, but it sometimes it sure felt like it.

- A lot of people would say 10 to one, but I think he's a six to five shot.

'cause because he's committed.

He is.

Yeah, he is committed.

He's a good man and he's good at what he does.

He gets people interested and he gets people that normally wouldn't be interested, interested.

He has a way of talking to him that they understand what he's going through.

I think it'll be here.

- I think there were several people that, that put a lot of stock into what we were doing.

And so yeah, they, they did bet on us.

And whether that was a smart bet or not, that remains to be seen.

But I would like to say don't, don't bet against me.