Wise Family Farms
Extension Food Trail – Wise Family Farms
When Stanley Wise became an Extension agent in 1988, agritourism was a foreign concept. He, along with most of the farmers he served, had a hard time believing that anybody would pay good money to take a walk around a farm. Oh, they might come to pick their own peas or collard greens, but that was different. That was something they could take home with them, and better, something they could eat. But to come out and pay money to take a wagon ride, or to walk through a corn field? Let’s just say Stan and his clients were a bit skeptical.
But then Stan attended an Extension Research Advisory Meeting, an annual gathering where Extension agents from a twenty-county region meet with the people they serve to discuss ____________. There he met Ralph Hanksavitch from Union County, and Ralph, being originally from up North, had a new angle on small farms that stirred Stan’s interest. Ralph H_____ grew pumpkins. Folks just didn’t grow pumpkins in Mississippi, it was more a northern thing, something they did in Illinois and Indiana. But Ralph knew how to make it work in the warmer climes.
Stan found Ralph’s crop selection interesting, but what really got his attention was what Ralph did with the pumpkins once he grew them. He basically just left them sitting on the ground. He and his wife would make pumpkin pies out of a few and sell them around town, and some people would buy one or two for Halloween decorations, but for the most part, Ralph didn’t touch them. What he did was place hay bales beside the pumpkin patch for seating and charge an admission fee for folks to relax beside the patch and maybe take some photos. And the people came, and they kept on coming. Stan was intrigued, but was still not fully on board with the idea. Yet he remembers to this day a bit of advice he got from Ralph at that meeting. “You’ve got to understand that your farm has a value other than the produce you’re making,” Ralph said. “It has an intrinsic value in that people will pay you simply to come out to your farm.”
Stan didn’t act on Ralph’s advice right away, and would not for years to come. But Ralph’s words stayed with him. As time passed, interest in Mississippi agritourism began to stir, and as an Extension agent, Stan was aware of it. After serving in several North Mississippi counties, he eventually was assigned to the Union County office. The Wise Family Farm, where Stan grew up and where his family still lived, was right across the line in Pontotoc County, so Stan had come home. And his old friend and mentor Ralph Hanksavitch was still farming in Union County, and still charging people to come out to his farm. This gave Stan a chance to learn about agritourism first hand from a friend and mentor.
About that time Stan read a magazine article about a corn maze in Utah that had been an astounding success, so he decided to test the waters himself. His father agreed to let him farm a two-acre plot on the family land that had been a successful U-Pick-Em pea patch for years. But Stan had a different idea for it. This was late July, and Stan announced he was going to put it into corn. His father couldn’t believe it. “Son, son, son,” he said, “you’ll never make a crop, not this late.” And then Stan said that making a crop didn’t matter, that he was going to cut a maze pattern through the little cornfield and charge people five dollars a head to come out and walk through the green stalks. His father, completely incredulous but by that time realizing his son was serious, pleaded with Stan to stick with the peas. “Son, you need to plant that field in peas. Everybody knows about this place, and they always come her. It’s still not too late.”
But Stan followed through and, along with his brothers and sisters, they established the first Wise Family Farm corn maze in the summer of 2003. They set out a picnic area, set out hay bales for patrons to relax, and even set up a concession stand. They built a miniature “train” drawn by a four-wheeler with passenger cars consisting of plastic barrels set on wheels and rode kids on tours around the farm. In short, they created a fun family outdoor experience. And sure enough, that first year nearly 3,000 people paid the five-dollar admission to walk through it. Not a bad return on two acres. It was even more impressive considering that Stan and his siblings had day jobs so the maze was open only at night and on weekends. By Thanksgiving, even the patriarch himself was duly impressed. At Thanksgiving dinner, Stan’s father gave his son a bit of advice. “Son,” he said, “you might ought to spend less time on those vegetables and start concentrating more on that corn maze.”
So Stan and his siblings took those words to heart, and not only did they keep promoting and expanding the corn maze, they diversified their attractions. Over time, Wise Family Farm grew, and they began focusing on a younger crowd, the pre-teen kids. Today, they target their marketing efforts toward young families with small kids and, naturally, the grandparents of those small kids. Birthday parties and school field trips have also become steady sources of income. The corn maze has been refined to where each season there are two distinct paths for a visitor to choose from. Stan maps out the paths himself using GPS technology, a skill he learned as an Extension agent when he actually taught classes on how to do it. Last season the two options were styled “Life is Sweet On The Farm” and “Sasquatch Swamp.” In addition to the mazes, the farm features a pick-your-own pumpkin patch, a wagon ride, a mini “train” ride, cotton picking, sunflower fields, and concession stand featuring ice cream and snow cones. One of the more unusual activities is “Hillbilly Family Golf,” a nine-hole course using tennis balls instead or regular golf balls.
Even though tourism is the economic engine for Wise Family Farms, at its base it’s still a farm, a produce-growing operation. Without effective farm management, everything would collapse. Other family members have taken over the entertainment functions, but Stan runs the farming operations. “We use the services of Mississippi State University every day, and I mean every day,” he said. “I’m not in a position to keep up with the technological advances in agriculture, so I have to rely on the services of my county agent. I also consult directly with specialists on the campus.” Stan says scientific farming keeps the operation going. “We have to rotate,” he says, “we can’t grow pumpkins at same place every year. Sunflowers are also a great rotation crop. I use the rotations not only to make the place aesthetically pleasing, but also to keep the soil healthy.” In addition to keeping the soil healthy, Wise Family Farms strives to keep the soil intact. “We’re very conscious of erosion,” Stan explains, “and we keep a constant eye on it. We maintain a lot of terraces out here. We don’t till the terraces, we plant grass on them.”
So what advice does Stan offer to the future generation of farmers? First of all, he stresses branding, promotion, and advertising. “Farmers tend to be old school,” he says. “Most farmers don’t like to promote themselves, they are a very independent lot. As each generation becomes further removed from the farm, misinformation that could adversely affect the farming industry becomes more likely to take hold. Farmers need to be vocal about what farming does for our society. This goes for farmers who sell to the mills and the grain elevators, farmers who have little contact with the general public, as well as those farmers who sell directly to consumers. All farmers of whatever stripe should have a web page so people will be able to find out what they do.”
Stan has high hopes for the future of farming. “In NE MS, the number of small farms is increasing, and they try to sell to restaurants. Young people need to realize that they may not have enough capital to get into a bigger farm, but they don’t have to. They can clear more money from their back yard with certain specialty crops than they can from a hundred acres of traditional row crops. There is no doubt that people of all ages would rather get food directly from farmers. The public just needs to know where it is. There’s more demand for buying local produce than we currently supply. So there’s plenty of room to grow, especially in what is known as ‘market gardening.’ A market gardener is one who doesn’t grow produce to package it and ship it to markets, he or she grows it to sell it locally. We need to use that term ‘market gardening’ more than anything else. We need to get that term out there.”
Wise Family Farm is located at 291 Shady Grove Road, Pontotoc, MS 38863 phone: 662-538-8990 – Hours change seasonally and the farm may close when rain or muddy conditions are present. Call ahead to confirm for the particular event you want.
That’s how the farm started. It grew. Really began to make profit when his daughter began marketing. FAMILY.
She targeted School children, advertising (TV, radio). Also vegetables were increased, more corn. Peas, tomatoes, a high tunnel. Began building a brand. But daughter got tired of public, she’s a demanding introvert.
Now his fiancé is the EVENT COORDINATOR, Stan does the farming. She doubled it again. The daughter had got it up to 5,000; the fiancé built on this to go to 10,000. We really need to double it again.
ME: Is it safe to say the farming here is for decoration?
Stan: Sort of, the pumpkins are a product, but basically everything is done to attract people h
ME: you have ice cream.
Stan: Fiance came up with ice cream and snow cone ideas. It’s a good adjunct. When people stop in to buy veggies, they get a snow cone. Creative marketing for the produce. I like dealing with the crops.