Promoting the Delta diversity

"This effort should start now," he said.

Successful ventures could lead to more government support down the road, Torlakson said.

Agritourism is finally taking root in the United States, expanding beyond its "niche" role, said Desmond Jolly, past director of the University of California Small Farm Program in Davis. Still, the federal government has yet to track the industry's growth.

The idea of a multi-purpose trail as a conduit into farm country is among the newer innovations in the United States, said Jolly, who owns a small farm in the Caribbean and was appointed in 1997 to the National Commission on Small Farms by then-U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman.

Agritourism efforts heavily funded by European governments have been drawing visitors into the storied countrysides of Western Europe for years, he said. Visitors to the Scottish Highlands hike and bike popular trails, Jolly said. Government support, particularly money, is almost unheard of in this country, he said.

"That's why this is significant," he said of state legislation for the trail.

Neuharth has his own concerns about a trail, especially squeezing more traffic onto Highway 160, but he is undeniably interested in any benefits for Delta farmers.

He is related by marriage to the Peck family, who homesteaded in the Delta in 1848. He farms 300 acres on Sutter Island near Courtland, selling to local markets and brokers.

Always the weather, lately global markets and sometimes politics continue to challenge farmers, Neuharth said.

What he wants is a legacy for his 23- and 21-year-old sons so they can inherit a venture with a future.

"You have to protect yourself and make yourself as viable as possible," Neuharth said.

A farmer miles away from the Delta first proposed the levee trail in hopes the idea would spread statewide -- and to the mile of levee running through his 620 acres.

Johnny Squire farms a flat, dusty stretch 30 miles east of Coalinga.

Unlike the verdant trees and vines of the Delta, the shadeless stretches of his farm seem to feature one attraction: a lone willow tree on the levee banks.

"It's the only willow tree for 10 miles," said Squire, 63. On Sundays, farmhands would build bonfires, shuck corn under the tree. The children swim in the canal.

"There's a lot of hours of recreation that goes on around that willow tree," he said. All he asks is that visitors leave his farm equipment alone and take home their garbage.

As the fourth generation on the land, Squire feels duty-bound to let others hike or birdwatch on his property, including another 10,000-acre cattle ranch in western Fresno County. He understands the attraction for the city-bound and the see-saw profits for farmers.

"It's always, 'Is there going to be enough money to buy the next pot of beans?' " he said.

The Delta was the logical incubator because of ongoing construction on the levees.

"Twenty years down the road," he said, "it might happen down here."

About the writer:

• The Bee's M.S. Enkoji can be reached at (916) 321-1106 or menkoji@sacbee.com.