From Vineyards to Family Farms: How Agritourism Is Transforming Sustainable Travel
Sonoma County has long been a leader in the U.S. agritourism movement. Photo courtesy Sonoma County Tourism
In the early 1980s, amid a rocky economy, record inflation, skyrocketing interest rates, and a volatile U.S. dairy market, Beth Kennett knew she had to do something to save her family's Vermont farm.
Set on about 300 acres just outside the tiny town of Rochester and home to 100 registered Holstein cows, Beth and her husband Bob purchased Liberty Hill Farm in 1979, and before the couple's ownership, the bucolic property had served as a working farm since at least the 1780s.
Kennett's solution to preserve the property amid the dire farm crisis of the 1980s was to open the doors of her seven-bedroom, four-bathroom farmhouse and invite travelers and guests to come stay.
"I needed to do something for us to survive on this farm, and the answer was to utilize the asset of our big old farmhouse," recalls Kennett. "So we started with a family from New Jersey who had five kids, who came to stay. And they continue to come back to this day. And now, they bring their grandkids."
That was in February 1984. For four decades, the Kennetts have been welcoming a steady stream of guests from all over the world – from France and England to Alaska and New York. And while in residence, those guests are immersed in life on a farm.
"Our farm is a working dairy farm, so guests can feed the baby cows, they can try their hand at milking a cow, or they can help unload wagon loads of hay," explains Kennett. "They can take part in whatever the chores are that we're doing that day. And in Vermont, the chores vary by season."
"We also send them to visit other farms," adds Kennett. "For me, that's a very important part. It's not just about our farm. It's about integrating with other farms in the area and having our guests go and pick blueberries or go to see a maple sugar house. I want them to understand where their food comes from and get to know the farmers behind their food."
Kennett and her husband are widely recognized as trailblazers in what's become known as the "agritourism" movement. In fact, in 2008, Liberty Hill Farm was designated Vermont's first certified Green Agritourism Enterprise.
The way of life Kennett embarked upon out of necessity is now a movement that's grown and flourished dramatically, particularly in recent years. These days, it's a global buzzword in tourism circles, not to mention a thriving and lucrative form of transformational travel.
According to a market analysis published by Grand View Research, the global agritourism market was worth about $8.10 billion in 2024. By 2030, its value is expected to reach a staggering $15.78 billion. And over the next five years, this form of tourism will experience a combined annual growth rate of 11.9 percent.
Amid all of this explosive growth, the term agritourism continues to evolve. Not only does this dynamic form of tourism mean different things to different people, but agritourism experiences and offerings also vary significantly from one destination to the next.
History of the Agritourism Movement
As the data makes clear, agritourism is clearly experiencing a bit of a shining star moment right now. But the practice of agritourism has been around for at least a century, suggests Lisa Chase, Ph.D., faculty member at the University of Vermont Extension and director of the Vermont Tourism Research Center (VTRC).
Chase, who focuses her time on applied research and outreach, working with people in tourism and agriculture around the United States and the world in the area of agritourism, says people have long been visiting farms.
"The argument I make is the practice of agritourism – gathering on farms – whether it's for harvesting or planting or barn raising or some sort of celebration around agriculture, that's really been around as long as agriculture has been around," begins Chase.
Really, what's changed is the urbanization of the population, she adds.
"One hundred years ago, people were involved in agriculture because it was their parents or grandparents or aunts, uncles, friends, or neighbors running the farms," continues Chase. "They were connected to agriculture in so many ways, even if they themselves weren't doing it. And so it wasn't hard to visit farms, because lots of people were farmers."
Over time, however, with the growth of urbanization, both in America and in other industrialized countries, people became more disconnected from the farming way of life. Living in metropolises like Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and New York, we've all distanced ourselves from farming and the work that takes place to produce our food.
"We are so disconnected from nature, agriculture, and farming, in a lot of ways that are harmful for ourselves and our food system as a whole," continues Chase. "And the way agritourism, as a named thing, got started was through agriturismos in Italy.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, as the United States and many other industrialized nations were experiencing the flight of rural residents to urban areas and the great urbanization was unfolding, farms across Italy were simply being abandoned. They were not being cared for and left to crumble. In response, regional efforts began to take shape throughout Italy, meant to encourage people to come back to the farms.
That included providing grants and tax breaks to those who returned and rehabilitated crumbling, forgotten farms. The goal was two-fold: to not only reinvigorate a fading way of life, but also to encourage people to open the farms to visitors and travelers, thus keeping the properties viable over the long term, says Chase.
To further cement this effort, in 1985, Italy passed what was the first national agritourism law, and it included incentives for farmers to open up their land, their buildings, their farms, and their fields and invite visitors to come stay with them.
"And that is how the term agriturismo came into being," says Chase.
While Italy may serve as an example of the formalized origins of the movement, there continue to be many different definitions and understandings of agritourism around the world. And this type of travel has existed in some form or fashion, for far longer than official definitions have existed.
Take France, for instance, says Chase, which has long hosted visitors at wineries across places like Champagne in the northeastern part of the country and Burgundy in the eastern central part of France. These activities were never officially dubbed agritourism, but they, too, are a form of this type of travel.
"There isn't an international, clear, concise definition of agritourism. And here in the U.S., we do not have a national definition," says Chase. "In different places, agritourism is defined and practiced in different ways."
The Range of Agritourism Experiences Offered by Destinations Today
In some destinations across the country and the world, agritourism is what the destination has always, largely, been about, given its particular location and the historic ways of life in the region. (Think Sonoma and Napa counties in California or the Willamette Valley in Oregon.) In these places, there is no great shift taking place toward the new buzzword form of tourism. Agritourism has always been front and center.
What is evolving, however, even in historic agricultural hubs, is the range of offerings under the agritourism banner.
Photos from left to right - 1) Guests at Liberty Hill Farm can feed the cows and take part in many other daily chores. Photo courtesy Liberty Hill Farm. 2) Agritourism has long been a central focus in Oregon's Willamette Valley and includes travelers visiting places like Inn the Ground, a bed and breakfast that includes a working egenerative farm. Photo courtesy Willamette Valley Visitors Association. 3) Agritourism at Inn the Ground in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Photo courtesy Willamette Valley Visitors Association.
SONOMA COUNTY: AGRITOURISM’S EVOLUTION
With its rolling countryside dotted by more than 400 wineries, Sonoma County, for instance, has long been regarded as a leading center for agritourism in the United States.
But even here, where there's also Redwood forest and miles of coastline, the spectrum of agritourism experiences and, really, the very definition of the term itself, is currently evolving, says Claudia Vecchio, president and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism.
To Vecchio, agritourism is a term that encompasses the full spectrum of activities that allow visitors to "connect with the Earth" in Sonoma and to connect with its bounty. To that end, all of the activities that support such connections for travelers offer yet another way for Sonoma to convey its full story and its very DNA.
"Agritourism is the tourism that connects people to a sense of place and the things that come from the Earth," explains Vecchio. "It is food, it is wine. It is going out into the fields and picking berries."
"But let's broaden that out," Vecchio continues, offering a more modern and cutting-edge take on agritourism. "It is also the Redwoods. Everything within nature is connected. And the Redwoods are a remarkable story of connection and connecting to the Earth. They've survived for millennia because their roots are connected. They provide the soil and the bugs and the birds and the essential nutrients that are exchanged through all of those natural connections. It's difficult for anyone to say we have this wonderful wine industry in Sonoma without acknowledging the Redwoods."
In other words, in Sonoma County, agritourism may have long been synonymous with wine and vineyards. But today, there's far more to this region's full agritourism story. And Vecchio candidly admits the destination has had to evolve its agritourism definition by necessity, because not all travelers are interested in wine or wine tasting.
To help the destination evolve, Vecchio's team has created a "beyond the vine" narrative of agritourism that encompasses a new 'Signature Experiences' program meant to help visitors experience the broad, rich legacy of Sonoma County, inclusive of its organic farms, orchards, flower fields, dairies, forests, and coastline.
One of those new Signature Experiences, which is very much resonating with visitors, is a tour called The Remarkable Redwoods, which allows participants to have a deeper encounter with the Redwood forest, experiencing the forest's ecology and spirituality.
Yet another popular new activity is "Taste of Coastal Foraging" in the northern part of Sonoma County. This signature experience, designed to showcase the bounty and culinary diversity of the Sonoma Coast, takes participants through coastal tidepools, wooded forests, and prairies.
"Participants forage for mushrooms and seaweed and all the products available right here and then go cook with them, so they get the whole life cycle experience," says Vecchio, who underscores that both of these experiences are agritourism experiences.
"Agritourism is an experience where you can go out and get this 360-degree view of a place," Vecchio adds.
WILLAMETTE VALLEY: AGRITOURISM AS TRADITION
With its 19,000 acres of vineyards and 700-plus wineries, Oregon's Willamette Valley is another rich agricultural region. In addition to vineyards, the 150-mile valley is home to farms, small towns, and scenic backcountry. All of which made the Willamette Valley another natural hub of the agritourism movement in the United States.
"It's just sort of been a part of our story, whether we actively knew we were promoting something under the arm or umbrella of agritourism or not," says Tori Middlestadt, executive director of the Willamette Valley Visitors Association.
In contrast, somewhat to Sonoma, visitors to the Willamette region will find more traditional agritourism offerings, such as experiencing wineries and distilleries, farm stands, and flower farms. There are also 'you-pick' opportunities, where travelers can gather berries, apples, or flowers.
Along with these types of agritourism experiences, there are also opportunities to visit fiber and dairy farms to meet the animals, says Middlestadt.
Whatever the specific experience entails, much like Beth Kennett and her farm, or in Italy, where the government paved the way for the creation of agriturismos, for many Willamette Valley farmers, these activities and offerings at their core are a critical means of revenue to help ensure survival.
"Small farmers will tell you that just farming doesn't pay the bills, so they need something else," says Middlestadt.
Agritourism is increasingly important the world-over at this moment in history for another reason as well, one highlighted in equal measure by Middlestadt, Kennett, and Chase.
Preserving small farms through agritourism is critical to the future of our food network. Especially as farmers age (the average age of a farmer in the pre-COVID era in Oregon was 65 years old), and contemplate who will take over their operations. Agritourism, which requires new skills like social media and communications and tour guides, has proven to be a way to meaningfully engage future generations and their unique talents, inspiring younger family members to remain on the farm.
"Agritourism keeps our small farm small, which is a goal. We have century farms that we don't want to disappear to big agriculture," says Middlestadt.
And not to be overlooked, agritourism at its best also provides education about a way of life that puts food on our tables. And it reopens a dialogue that had largely gone silent with urbanization.
Photo: Iron Water Ranch in the Willamette Valley. Photo courtesy Willamette Valley Visitors Association
"If you grow up in a city, not near farming, you don't always understand where food comes from and how it's grown, says Middlestadt. "And I think we should not have that disconnect in society. People should want to know where their food comes from."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia Taylor is an award-winning freelance travel writer and editor who has worked on staff for Parents, Real Simple, and Better Homes & Gardens. She also worked on a features writing team for BBC Travel and currently serves as a Senior Editor for the travel trade publication TravelPulse. Over the course of her career, Mia has received nine travel writing awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association. She was also a member of a team of KPBS/NPR reporters who received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. Her work has also appeared in Travel Age West, Westways, Travel + Leisure, and other publications.
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