OSU: Agritourism Continues To Grow

Not only is agritourism as an industry growing, so is data to better recognize and understand the sector and its trends.  Audrey Comerford of Oregon State University Extension broke down the data from the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture.

“1.9 million U.S. farms were estimated to basically report;  1.5% reported themselves being engaged in some sort of agritourism, and 6% of it was direct to consumer sales,” she said.

Agritourism operations were reported in 57% of the nation's counties in the most recent Cenus.  Comerford noted that agritourism it's not a new concept, however the terminology is being used more frequently and if a variety of different definitions.

“We see it as anytime the visiting public is coming onto a farm or ranch.  And this could be for things like direct sales; farm stands, you pick, you cuts.  It could be for entertainment such as festivals, pumpkin patches. It could also be for hospitality reasons, like tastings or farms table dinners, outdoor recreation, hiking, birding, horseback riding.  And then we also have education, which is a really big piece and kind of thread throughout all of those other topics as well. Those could be things like classes, demonstrations, those types of things.”

Nationally, almost 50% of all agritourism dollars, $1.26B, originate in just four states; California, Texas, Colorado and Hawaii.

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