BURBANK, S.D. (KTIV) — Blue Tin Ranch in Burbank, SD, has become a unique event space highlighting agritourism.
Thirty-two years ago, Noreen Jorgensen moved to this property in the Missouri River Valley. It is home to Blue Tin Ranch and the ‘1909 Barn’ brought to this homestead in 2005.
Jorgensen said, “We’re kind of a landmark when people say, ‘Well when you go past the farm with all the blue roofs, you’re about a mile away from town’.”
She started in 2020 turning this homestead into an agricultural event space, working to attract as many people as possible to Southeast South Dakota through AirBnB, hosting weddings, and offering a camping spot for people passing through.
She manages the property owned by her daughters and says that she is a legacy farm family with several generations having farmed in this region.
“We are South Dakota proud. We are tourism proud. We just love to have people come and experience the farm,” Jorgensen said.
The ‘Agritourism and Adventure Travel Workshop’ was hosted by SDSU Extension, Travel South Dakota, and Nebraska Tourism.
This brought 60 people to Blue Tin Ranch on Thursday morning.
Kara Harders, SDSU Extension Community Vitality Field Specialist said, “Agritourism is a branch of tourism specifically that looks at getting people a little bit more involved and showing them what agriculture looks like in different areas, I think, especially with this kind of farm movement and everybody wanting, you know, a backyard chicken and wondering where their food comes from. There’s just been so much interest or additional interest in the past few years.”
Harders says her department has been putting this traveling workshop together for over a year and a half trying to get people to other agritourism operations to see what they’re doing.
“I think one of the coolest things about that is if you spend two days on a tour like this, and you see maybe five or eight different businesses, all it takes is getting one cool idea. Seeing how one thing could be different if you implement that in your business,” Harders said.
Jorgensen is the daughter of a farmer, and she had another generation made up of all girls. Having had the conversation of who would take on the farm next, she took matters into her own hands. That’s when the idea to turn their land into agritourism grew so that this land would become something that would leave a legacy.
Harders said this is a normal conversation for legacy farmer families, “The children say, ‘maybe I don’t want to be a farmer.’ And so then you’re left with, ‘what do we do with all this land that is this incredible value to us and we love it?’ You have to start thinking a little bit outside the box. And so [Blue Tin Ranch] found a way to still utilize their land and their operation in a way that better serves their family in the direction that they’re moving in.”
Jorgensen turned her family’s farmland into a thriving agritourism hotspot but that did come with some challenges.
She has overcome challenges put forth by Union County after her business had been up and running for a few years.
Jorgensen explained, “At the county level, with zoning, I am zoned agriculture out here. The county really didn’t want me to have events out here. I did get the county to write an ordinance in the Union County Planning and Zoning that allows for agriculturally themed event centers.”
Due to this ordinance, there are some changes that will be made to the two main buildings before hosting indoor events.
Like in the old barn, adding breakaway doors to the barn, and removing the old staircase.
“It’s a little daunting to bring a barn that was built in 1909 up to today’s standards,” Jorgensen said. She continued, “We’re in the process of doing that, and we’ll also be working on the inside of the bigger shed too.”
Tourism has changed her life, hoping to get more people out to this part of South Dakota.
Jorgensen said, “You live here, you work here, you raise your family here, you’re kind of isolated from the outside world. Agritourism is welcoming people to your farm.”
Next, they are working on adding a new pavilion to the land.
The workshop tour also made stops at Valiant Vineyards in Clay County, Mazing Acres in Yankton County, and Good Earth Farm in Lincoln County.
As for Jorgensen, she is hoping to offer more outdoor events soon as she continues to build her Blue Tin Ranch homestead to the new zoning standard.
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