Agritourism trend on the rise at farms around Australia

City slickers are now more aware of – and interested in – holidaying close to where their food comes from.

In a rustic former fruit-packing shed in the valley of an ancient volcano, Richie Foreman sits sipping a glass of avocado beer as he explains the brewing process to a group of captivated tourists.

The Earth Beer Company director is as passionate as they come. “If you have a look behind you at Wollumbin (Mount Warning), we’re in the caldera where it erupted, and that’s why the soil is so rich,” he says. “You could plant your feet, and something would grow out of your head.” Spent grain, he explains, is picked up by farmers in their utes to feed pigs and cows. “Our bar manager turns it into dog biscuits, which is cool,” he says. “After two days it smells like dirty feet.”

Just down the road at Farm & Co in Kingscliff, Tweed Shire locals and visitors alike are enjoying a long lunch that includes salad picked on-site that morning, before flocking to take selfies among the sunflowers.

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Farm & Co. in the Tweed. Picture: Angela Saurine

These are part of a growing number of agritourism businesses popping up across the country to cater to the growing demand for authentic experiences connecting people to regional Australia’s products and producers.

More than 700 agritourism businesses are registered with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, offering everything from picnics under blossoming peach trees at Southview Orchard in the Richmond Valley near Casino, NSW, to sea salt sommelier tastings on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula. And the number is set to rise after the NSW government cut red tape in December for farmers who wish to provide innovative experiences following last year’s devastating floods.

A salt sommelier experience at Tasman Sea Salt.

It’s a trend that has been developing over the past couple of decades in the wake of the local food movement, buoyed by TV shows such as Gourmet Farmer and River Cottage Australia. And with the Covid pandemic, drought, bushfires and floods leading to empty supermarket shelves, city slickers who had become disconnected from where their food came from are now more aware – and interested – than ever.

“It’s given us a reality check and made us reprioritise our focus,” says agritourism expert and Regionality founder Rose Wright. “There are so many things you can do in country communities that are authentic and real, and with the price of airfares, people are thinking they can drive to these destinations instead.”

While Tasmania is leading the way with ventures such as Fork It Farm in the Tamar Valley, where you can enjoy lunch on a rug in the paddock or a long table feast, and Tunnel Hill Mushrooms near Hobart, where fungi are grown in an old railway tunnel, Rose says there are agritourism pockets all over Australia. She pinpoints Tommerup’s Dairy Farm in Queensland’s Scenic Rim and Windy Station Woolshed near Tamworth, NSW, as leaders in the field.

A feast at Fork It Farm in Tasmania. Picture: Fiona Harding

“Agritourism is really all about creating an authentic connection between the visitor and the farmer,” Rose says. “What visitors get from farm visits that they don’t necessarily get from staying in an Airbnb is that they get to connect more deeply with the people and community and understand a bit about their way of life and what they’re doing on their farm.”

Rose says people have very busy lives, particularly in urbanised Australia. “I think because we have lost that connection, there’s now a desire to get away from the hustle and bustle out into the bush and country,” she says. “It’s a way to decompress and I think that’s what we need for our mental and emotional wellbeing. People have romantic notions about what life is like on the farm because of these incredible experiences that are so different to day-to-day reality. It re-energises people and grounds them.”

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Originally published as Agritourism trend on the rise at farms around Australia