Seats filling up fast for Ag Tours

Tickets are going fast for the Agriculture Tours hosted by local farmers and growers during the 2013 Yuma Lettuce Days Festival held March 9 and 10.

The 45-minute tours will run multiple times throughout the days of the festival, giving people from the community the opportunity to view various crops in Yuma from the comfort of their tour bus seat.

Peggy Alameda, Yuma Visitors Bureau board member responsible for putting together the tours, said that the buses will leave from the festival rear entrance at the Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, 201 N. 4th Ave., and make their way out to Bard, Calif., to take a look at the farming work done in the area.

Alameda said that those on the tour will get a chance to see things like leafy greens, wheat, cotton, Medjool dates, citrus and other crops in the area.

She noted that they will be going out to the Bard area because that's the location of Top Flavor Farms, a family business.

“I set it up based on our farm because I'm the most knowledgeable based on that,” she said.

Alameda said that she recruited mostly farmers and growers to lead the tours, while there are also some tour guides that are in the seed and food safety industries.

“They're all very knowledgeable people in the agricultural field,” she said. “They have a wealth of information, the people that get on the bus can ask as many questions as they want, they're very generous about answering anything that is thrown their way.”

She noted that those on the tours will not have the opportunity to get off the bus as they do during YVB's Field to Feast tours.

“They won't be able to get out in any fields because of food safety,” Alameda said. “It's going to be a quick mini version of the Field to Feast tours. They will be learning a little bit about Yuma agriculture and they will be taking a route that will see different elements that are currently available at that time of the year.”

She said that Yuma is special in that a wide variety of crops can be grown year round in the area.

“That's one of the reasons that Yuma is so unique, there are very few areas that can grow year round,” she said.

A total of 54 people can attend each tour, on March 9-10 with two buses running each day. Tour times on March 9 are 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2 p.m., and times for March 10 are 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1 p.m.

She noted that some of the afternoon slots may be cut back as they didn't get the attendance during that time during last year's event. People are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time as they will be going fast.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Visitors Information Center at the Quartermaster Depot or during the Lettuce Days Festival event. Tickets are $5 in addition to the $5 entrance fee to the festival. For more information call 783-0071.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.