VIDALIA — Agriculture entrepreneurs will have a chance to learn how to turn green assets in their backyard into green income in their pockets Wednesday during an agritourism outdoor enterprise business plan development workshop.

The LSU AgCenter and Mississippi State University are bringing a variety of “hands-on” workshops to the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center.

Workshops will guide businessmen to find revenue potential in natural resource enterprises, liability and legal considerations and business plan development.

The workshops center around agritourism, which blends agriculture and tourism to help landowners expand existing operations and gain some supplemental income, said LSU AgCenter Agritourism Coordinator Dora Ann Hatch.

“Sometimes people limit themselves to what they think is agriculture or tourism, but it can include things like hunting, fishing, hiking, paddling or even a tree identification walk,” Hatch said. “They shouldn’t limit agritourism to just a farm tour.”

Hatch said agritourism is nothing new to the United States, but has been a recent trend in Louisiana and Mississippi.

And with an already popular agricultural destination site like Frogmore Plantation in Ferriday, Hatch said the Miss-Lou is a perfect place to start developing agritourism sites.

“We want to take this opportunity to educate people on the opportunity they have to take nature-based assets and learn of its potential for providing additional income,” Hatch said. “There are a lot of these places in Northeast Louisiana, but we always include Natchez in the conversations as well.

“The river may separate us, but we all share some of the same agricultural benefits.”

The workshops are from 8 a.m. until 3:15 p.m.

Registration is $20 a person or $30 per couple, which includes a catered lunch.

To register, contact Hatch at 318-927-9654 or registration is also available on Wednesday before the workshops begin.