Corn mazes help revive farms

LASALLE, Colo. – Glen and Kim Fritzler tried all the conventional tricks to save their family farm.

They planted onions instead of corn because they promised higher returns. They repaired their old tractors, instead of buying new ones, to reduce their expenses.

And they borrowed money from the bank, and then borrowed some more.

But none of their ideas worked. So five years ago, on the verge of bankruptcy, the Fritzlers decided to try something unconventional: They cut a maze in a cornfield in the shape of the Denver Broncos’ logo.

“We got to the point where the bank was looking at us very seriously, and we were given the option to try something new or get out of farming,” said Glen Fritzler, 47, a third-generation farmer who has a commanding view of the Rocky Mountains. “It was terrifying.”

The corn maze ended up on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News, and the number of paying visitors at the Fritzlers’ maze has increased steadily. This year customers are paying up to $8 a person to walk through a likeness of the famous flag-raising at Iwo Jima.

Fritzler was on the front end of a corn maze craze that has swept over America’s countryside, part of a larger trend in which farmers are trying unconventional steps to save their farms during a time of intense consolidation in agriculture.

While some farmers are getting bigger to remain competitive in an increasingly global marketplace, a growing number have moved in the opposite direction, focusing on small niche markets in their own communities that appeal directly to consumers.

The trend has fueled an explosive growth of farmer’s markets, U-pick farms and specialty farming, from organic farms to emu ranches.

In the case of farmer’s markets alone, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that there were 3,137 such markets in the United States in 2002, a 79 percent increase from 1994.

The latest USDA census of agriculture, released in June, showed that farmers in 2002 sold $812 million worth of agricultural products directly to consumers, rather than through wholesalers, an increase of 37 percent in five years.

The direct-sales statistic is a catch-all that includes everything from farmer’s markets and roadside stands to U-pick operations and farm cooperatives. Of the 116,733 farms that sold directly to consumers in 2002, 89 percent made less than $10,000 that way, suggesting that most participants are small, part-time farmers or full-time farmers who are supplementing their regular farm income.

But the trend toward specialization in farming also has spawned the lesser-known world of agri-tourism, which as the name suggests means drawing tourists to the countryside. Agri-tourism attractions include corn mazes – from a “Kerry vs. Bush” maze near Lake Geneva, Wis., to a maze honoring the NBA champion Detroit Pistons in Midland, Mich. – and hayrides, but also more off-the-wall ideas such as miniature villages, crop art and farm vacations, where city dwellers pay money to spend the night on a working farm.

While the USDA does not specifically track agri-tourism, experts agree it represents a small but growing portion of U.S. agriculture, which overall includes 2.1 million farmers and $201 billion in annual sales.

James Miller, an agriculture extension professor at Mississippi State University, said as the country becomes more urbanized, the demand for rural recreation is increasing. At the same time, he said, more and more farmers are looking for ways to diversify their incomes because of the instability of commodity prices.

“The demand for access to things like corn mazes and pumpkin patches and cut-your-own Christmas trees is growing,” said Miller, who said many Mississippi farmers allow hunters onto their property for a fee. “There seems to be some innate desire to get out in the countryside and see what’s going on.”

At least a half-dozen companies have sprung up that design and cut corn mazes, which often take visitors about an hour to walk through. Brett Herbst said his Utah-based company, The Maize, is now the biggest, consulting on more than 140 new mazes in the U.S., Europe and Mexico in 2003 alone.

Herbst, who started his company in 1996, said most of his customers are farmers who are struggling to make ends meet, though some churches and non-profit groups have built mazes to raise money.

Though proximity to an urban area is important, Herbst said the enthusiasm and ingenuity of the farmer is the key factor in a corn maze’s success. He encourages farmers to offer additional attractions, such as cannons that shoot corn, pumpkin patches or a “goat walk,” where goats tread across a perilously thin and elevated board to get snacks that are hoisted to them by youngsters.

“This isn’t a secret recipe for how to save the farm and how to have money running out of your pockets,” said Herbst, who holds yearly conventions to float new ideas with corn maze operators. “It’s a lot of hard work. You have to be able to deal with the public. We have some farmers who get into it and they don’t really like it. They aren’t people persons.”

Maria and Al Sandow of Midland, Mich., have taken Herbst’s advice to heart.

Besides their first corn maze, an homage to the Detroit Pistons, the Sandows this year are offering customers a pumpkin patch, a vegetable stand, a small train, an inflatable haunted house, a petting zoo, a catapult that hurls pumpkins into a nearby cornfield and Tony the Miniature Donkey.

“He’s just hilarious,” Maria Sandow said. “There’s bands on the weekends, and Tony the Miniature Donkey really likes one band. It’s called the Hee Haw Rejects. We put them in front of our barn, and there’s a little window where Tony sticks his head out the window and sings along with the band.”