The Impact Of Agritourism Is Felt Beyond The Farm

Agritourism and the economic and social opportunity it provides, the family farms and communities they serve, continues to expand.

“There are large, diverse opportunities there and it really depends on your situation, your farm, and what you produce,” noted Audrey Comerford of Oregon State University Extension.

The diversity that is agritourism continues to be on display as more farms, ranches, orchards and operations go into and expand this potential business opportunity.  Comerford said a broad scope of agritourism offerings can be found within 50 miles of her residence.

"I have everything from a Tulip farm that opens in April to a small dairy that does single couch cheese and will produce vodka out of whey," she said.  "We have blueberry folks that will do frozen products throughout the year to be able to lengthen their season. And so we're seeing a lot of ingenuity here with the farms”.

It is because of this diversity that putting a precise definition of what agritourism is can be a challenge.

Agritourism Starts For A Variety Of Reasons

“Anytime the visiting public is coming onto a farmer or ranch and this could be for things like direct sales, so farm stands, you picks, you cuts. It could be for entertainment such as festivals, pumpkin patches,"  Comerford said.  "It could be for hospitality reasons. These could be like tastings or farm to table dinners, outdoor recreation, hiking, birding, horseback riding. We also have education which is classes, demonstrations, those types of things.”

Among the harvest coming in from new agritourism operations data to better recognize and understand trends with this value added proposition.  Comerford notes recent data associated with USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture.

“1. 9 million US farms were estimated to basically report and 1 ½% reported themselves being engaged in some sort of agritourism and 6% of direct to consumer sales," Comerford said.  "The national data looks at those two things separate.”

Another way to breakdown numbers within agritourism operation.  They were reported in 57% of the nation's counties in the most recent census.  Comerford said perhaps a more telling trend in agritourism.

“Total income generated from agritourism and recreational services from the 2017 census,” she pointed out.

That $1.26 billion of income through agritourism services as according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, reflects an over 12% increase from the prior census in 2017.  Back to that, 57% of U.S. counties reporting agritourism in some form. The latest census of Ag, almost 50% of that total originated from counties in just four states; California, Texas, Colorado and Hawaii.  And what they generated in income was over ¼ of the $1.26 billion in agritourism sales in 2022.  Data on agritourism trends is also being gleaned on the Cooperative Extension level, both on a nationwide and a state or regional basis, Comerford discusses results of a national survey conducted in 2019 and 2020 by University of Vermont Extension. 

Agritourism Continues To Grow, Expand Nationwide

“We're seeing a lot of these agritourism operations identifying as either woman owned or woman led," she noted.  "That is really encouraging to see that this may be a spot that whether it be the next generation coming up that's looking to make a stamp on their operation.  But this could be a place that could be a strong avenue for women and act to make their mark.”

While a recent Oregon State Extension look at agritourism, in the major population region of the Willamette Valley, leans insight on consumers that visit such businesses.

“A lot of the agritourism customers, when we did our study here in the Willamette Valley, the majority of them were within 50 miles of the farm.  So, we're looking at 66% of that, your local community, the folks that are regularly visiting these farms, they know about them, and then we're looking at the folks coming from farther away. That's still a pretty good percentage, 19% is coming from more than 50 miles and 15% are the overnight visits.”

Comerford acknowledges that because of the very broad nature and loose definition of agritourism.

“It doesn't have as much data behind it as we would like, and so extension services are looking to see how best we can provide numbers to further these conversations.”

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