Solving labor problems and building capacity in sustainable agriculture through volunteer tourism

•Volunteer tourism can be a method for solving local labor market failures.•This paper focuses on WWOOF hosts as opposed to volunteers unlike most studies.•WWOOF works because it is embedded in a larger social movement.•More research is needed to understand WWOOF model outside developed countries.

This research evaluates the value of volunteer tourism as it has been applied in the Carolinas through the organization Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF-USA). Its recent growth is attributable to the rise of both the sustainable foods movement and volunteer tourism. Focusing on the experience of farmers, results suggest that despite some caveats there are both social and economic benefits associated with this particular form of tourism, especially in dealing with labor shortages. It is suggested that the WWOOF model may be useful in other forms of volunteer tourism, but that its benefits are socially and spatially contingent, particularly in that WWOOF is embedded in a larger social movement that serves to create a force of willing laborers.