Temecula Farm Hosts Officials for Debut of County 'Ag Trail'

A map featuring more than 100 farms, vegetable stands, wineries and other places throughout Riverside County where homegrown products can be bought was unveiled by Supervisor Jeff Stone during a ceremony Friday at Peltzer Farms in Temecula.

The "Ag Trail" can be found at Agtrail.rivcoca.org and highlights stops in the Temecula Valley Wine Country, Riverside citrus groves, Cherry Valley and the desert.

The county is home to around 1,700 dairies, farms, ranches, wineries, historical and cultural sites.

Several agencies, including the Departments of Environmental Health and Information Technology, partnered with the Riverside County Farm Bureau and California Women for Agriculture to design the website and other promotional materials.

"The county's goal is to promote agriculture and agri-tourism," county Foreign Trade Commissioner Tom Freeman told City News Service.

"This helps market these 100-plus locations and will definitely help in driving attendance to festivals and fairs and will likely help sell our ag products, from fresh-cut Christmas trees to pumpkins to the whole variety of produce grown across the county."

The online chart allows users to choose from several different categories, depending on their interests. A visitor will get a snapshot of farmers' markets, where to look for wineries and details and schedules on the county's popular festivals and fairs, including the National Date Festival in Indio and the Beaumont Cherry Festival.

There is also information on holiday farms which do business seasonally, such as Temecula's Peltzer Farms.

All the attractions are accessible by car and cover a roughly 400-mile route that zigzags across the county, from its southwestern pocket to the Arizona state line.

"It is such a vast area," said Carrie Peltzer of Peltzer Farms. "I think it will get people out here."

The Ag Trail map debut was also celebrated earlier Friday during a reception hosted by Stone and Supervisors John Benoit at Madison Street Produce in Indio.

Benoit and Stone introduced the Ag Trail concept last July as a means to promote tourism and support area agricultural interests.

According to Freeman, the county's agricultural trade is valued at $3 billion, with exports to 67 countries. He said Japan and China were the top export destinations of agricultural products generated locally in 2011.

The county's agricultural base supports more than 30,000 jobs, according to Freeman.

Stone touted the potential of the Temecula Valley Wine Country to boost the regional economy as it undergoes an expansion encompassing 22,000 acres, populated by growers, vintners and related businesses.

Of the county's wine grapes, all are grown in the Temecula Valley. In 2011, the area's commodity of wine grapes was valued at $6.7 million.

—City News Service and Maggie Avants contributed to this report.