Over the past two years, we have worked with Qualmark to develop agritourism tertiary criteria.
Agritourism NZ is the first organisation of its kind to become Qualmark accredited. 
A big THANK YOU to John Cushen, who has worked with me on the tertiary criteria and Diane Clayton from Tourism New Zealand.
Below is part of the cover letter of the evaluation report.   

​'Dear Marijke,

Well finally, we get to go through the Qualmark Quality Assurance process. Your agritourism business is a pioneer in this field and rather than you providing an experience for visitors, you provide a “one stop shop” for those that do. 
You have had a long history of supporting tourism  businesses and in particular, those that are rural based through your other business, Strategies Marketing / Smartourism.
Congratulations on achieving a very strong Silver Sustainable Tourism Business Award, this is a great result.
A Silver Award is evidence of a sophisticated tourism business that consistently exceeds visitor expectations. Proactive leadership and management ensure that a culture of high performance is evident throughout the entire business. The business will have a real focus on continuously improving their economic, social and environmental performance to ensure the tourism product they deliver is a genuine, constantly improving sustainable experience.
You are to be commended for providing a great supportive network.
 
It has been a real pleasure working with you Marijke.
​Agritourism in New Zealand has a lot to thank you for. You are a driver of initiatives and your high level of professionalism, will help ensure that those who choose to have experiences on farms, will be safe and have expectations exceeded.
Thanks so much for your support and well done on a great result.

Kind regards
John Cushen
Tourism Business Advisor'

Hamish McKay interviews Marijke about the opportunities of agritourism for farmers.
Duration: 8 minutes
To listen, go to:
www.magic.co.nz/home/shows/talk/rural-exchange.html 
Note: Go to the Podcast of the 13th of November. 
Starts at: 21:41 (21 minutes, 41 seconds)

It was a privilege to be invited to speak at the 2021 Food Hui together with Dr Tracy Berno, Professor at AUT University. The Food Hui is a yearly conference organised by Eat New Zealand and the Restaurant Association. It's the 'most important food conversation in New Zealand'
It was planned as a live event, but unfortunately, as with most events these days, it became a virtual event.
We presented and discussed the following questions:

• How does Agritourism empower farmers and local communities? 
• How does Agritourism contribute to a local food identity / food culture? 
• What are the impacts of Covid on global agritourism? 
• How can we grow the awareness of NZ’s food culture as a main driver for visitation?

If you've registered for this conference, you can view the recordings of all talks HERE.