Study Location

lived tourism production. Participant observation and conversational interviews highlight and honor participant understanding of their circumstances and enable them to tell their own story, in their own words. These strategies “transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence – in such as way that the effect of the text is at once a reflexive re-living and a reflective appropriation of something meaningful” (Van Manen 1997, 36).

3.3 Study Location

Pumpkins are a big part of business for farm tourism in Southern Ontario. For example, in 2001, 92% of pumpkin sales in Ontario came from fresh pumpkins (i.e. to carve into jack-o-lanterns) and the remaining 8% of sales came from processing (Doran 2004). Although these are older statistics, the increase in pumpkin production indicates an increase in the demand for popular agritourism activities related to Thanksgiving and Halloween with fall harvest on the farm. The increased levels of consumerism

surrounding these holidays in North America has elevated the pumpkin to an important icon in consumer culture. The growing number of pumpkin farms in Ontario is evidence of the phenomenon’s significance in the area. Table 3.1 presents data on harvested area, marketed production, farm value, average price, and average yield of pumpkins in Ontario between 1979 and 2013. Of particular interest is the major spike in pumpkin harvest area between 1989 and 1990, jumping from a steady 500 to 1,837 hectares the following year. This translates into an increase in market production from 13,377 to 36,209 tonnes, an increase in farm value from $629,000 to $8,985,000, and an increase in average price per tonne from $46.60 to $248.10. A general upward trend continues over the next 20 years with slight declines along the way. In 2013, 2,814 hectares of pumpkins equaling 38,998 tonnes had a farm value of $18,911,000 and an average price per tonne

of $484.90. These statistics are evidence of the impact agritourism has had on pumpkin production in this part of Ontario.

The following map (figure 3.1) shows the number of pumpkin farms in Southern Ontario (2009-2010). The red rectangle indicates the area within which the farms in this study were located. The farms included in this study are not identified on this map

because this would forfeit the complete anonymity promised to participants. The majority of farms associated with pumpkin related agritourism in Southern Ontario, as well as the farms included in this study, are located near rapidly growing major urban centers in the region (Doran 2004). In addition to the GTA, clusters have also formed around Hamilton, St. Catherines, Kitchener/Waterloo, St. Thomas and Ottawa. Southern Ontario is well suited geographically for agritourism because of its proximity to urban centers, which provides a local market that more easily makes agritourism a viable option.

Personal and practical considerations were also factors in selecting the study location. Driving was a big part of fieldwork and proximity to my home was a major factor in selecting potential participants. Ultimately, the deciding factor for selecting locations was distance, measured in drive time. Research sites were all within the confines of a ‘day’s drive’ from home (North York). Although this was a logistical consideration, it is also something that tourists consider when deciding on a destination.

It is a ‘close to home’ tourism mobility, which is easily connected to the popular ‘stay-cation’. In this project, local tourism could be defined as travel to any destination within which a reasonable day’s drive can be made, which is defined as driving to the

destination and back home in no more than five hours of total driving time. In this way I

Table 3.1: Pumpkin, Squash and Zucchini: Harvested Area, Market Production, Farm Value, Average Price and Yield, Ontario 1979-2013

Source: Agricultural Statistics for Ontario 2013, OMAFRA; Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Annual Summary Reports

Figure 3.1: Pumpkin Farms in Southern Ontario (2009-2010). The farms in this study are not directly identified on this map because of anonymity agreements. The red

rectangle indicates the general area within which farms in this study are located.

Source: Roza Sath (Project GIS assistant)

experienced the mobility of a local tourist (with respect to distance and not necessarily frequency of visits to farms) in addition to that of a researcher.

3.4 A Semi-Structured Conversational Approach to Interviews

The purpose of using interviews was to obtain stories or narratives about what is involved in the everyday work of producing agritourism on the family farm. An everyday knowledge of tourism production belongs in the backstage regions of the agritourism destination, which is not revealed to tourists but is critical to the functioning of the front stage. This knowledge is subjective and situated; not every participant will necessarily have the same experience (Kroløkke and Sorensen 2005; Haraway 1991). The knowledge stemming from each farmer’s experience is “marked by the contexts in which they are produced” (England 1994, 286), situated specifically to an individual’s everyday context and based on individual experience. What constitutes the everyday for one person is not necessarily the same for everyone.

My rationale for approaching interviews as a conversation is in large part because of my desire to access this situated knowledge. I made the assumption that this style of interview would diffuse power dynamics between participants and myself, and enable easier access. I talk about this in greater detail later in the chapter, but I need to make it clear now that I wanted my method to include giving participants the chance to steer the discussion towards issues important to them. A conversational approach gives a greater degree of weight to the participant’s role in ‘taking the reigns’ and ‘steering’ the

conversation than a traditional interview. The effect is to shift the dynamic by giving the participant a small degree of control and establishing them as the expert. Like semi- structured interviews, the open-ended conversational-like structure imposed fewer limits