On May 13, 2020, Sarah Parish successfully defended her Master of Science in Rural Planning and Development thesis! Sarah’s research examined the role of agritourism as a solution to rural revitalization in Regional Municipality of Durham’s three northern townships: Brock, Scugog, and Uxbridge. Through in-depth interviews with farm operators Sarah enhanced our knowledge on three questions: (i) the motivations of farmers to diversify their farms through agritourism, (ii) how agritourism assists farming businesses, and (iii) strategies farmers use to implement agritourism into their current farming practices. A copy of Sarah’s thesis will be available through The Atrium [1] at the University of Guelph shortly.

Members of the examination committee were include: Prof. Ryan Gibson (advisor, SEDRD), Prof. Wayne Caldwell (Graduate Faculty, SEDRD), Prof. Karen Landman (Graduate Faculty, SEDRD), and Prof. Sara Epp (chair).

Photo:  Sarah Parish

Congratulations to Sarah on the successful thesis defence!