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Agritourism Allows Farms to Diversify and Has Potential Benefits for Rural Communities

by Christine Whitt, Sarah A. Low, and Anders Van Sandt, USDA
Agritourism helps U.S. farmers generate revenue from recreational or educational activities, such as tours of a working farm or “pick-your-own fruits and vegetables” programs. Beginning, small and mid-size farms are increasingly exploring agritourism as a strategy to remain competitive. Agritourism also has the potential to help revitalize rural economies, educate the public about agriculture, and preserve agricultural heritage. In addition, community-focused farms may find agritourism an attractive option because it provides more labor opportunities for local residents.
Highlights:
Agritourism—farms that contain a recreational or educational enterprise component, such as tours of a working farm and pick-your-own fruits—are clustered in western Texas, the intermountain West, and some coastal areas.
Female operators, older operators, and those operating large ranches with cattle or horses (dude ranches specializing in tourist activities, such as camping and horseback riding) are most likely to have agritourism income.
Farms in remote rural areas are more likely to participate in agritourism, but smaller farm operations seldom report significant agritourism revenue; in contrast, agritourism farms close to urban areas tend to have higher agritourism revenue.
 
Farm agritourism revenue across the country more than tripled between 2002 and 2017, however agritourism revenue is still small relative to total farm revenue, accounting for 5.6 percent of farm-related income in 2017.
Although many factors affect an operator’s decision to adopt agritourism, being located near natural amenities or in close proximity to other outdoor activities had a statistically significant positive impact on agritourism economic activity.
Farms and ranches in more populated counties also earned more revenue, although farms in less populated counties were more likely to adopt agritourism. This may be due to expanded marketing opportunities in more populated areas, whereas farms in more rural areas may be adopting agritourism due to fewer perceived alternative sources of income. For example, farms near urban areas also have higher local food sales, all else being equal.
Lastly, certain types of crop and livestock production—specifically, grapes, fruit and tree nuts, and specialty livestock farms—had a positive and statistically significant impact on agritourism revenue. Those types of farms involve multiple opportunities for human interaction and visitor engagement, which attract more visitors.
As the share of farms and ranches with agritourism revenue increases, more farmers and ranchers may be encouraged to adopt agritourism activities. Previous research has documented the loss of small and mid-sized farms and ranches, so agritourism revenue may offer a viable strategy to keep these farms afloat—particularly near agritourism hot spots.
Future research could help identify agritourism best practices, keys to success, or barriers to growth. Tracking agritourism operations over time would help researchers better understand the characteristics of successful operations and why some enterprises have chosen to participate in agritourism. Future research could also help identify the rural economic development benefits of industry agglomeration and how they vary based on the type of agritourism enterprise, regional location attributes, and spillovers from other local industries.