A national agritourism study released on 11 September 2026 by the University of Vermont (UVM) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has found that 75 percent of surveyed farms increased revenue through agritourism, while simultaneously identifying funding shortfalls, infrastructure deficits, inadequate visitor data collection, and gaps in marketing capability as the dominant operational barriers across the sector.

The 2.5-year study, conducted between 2023 and 2026, combined short and long national surveys with in-depth interviews at ten farms across the United States. It builds on UVM’s first major national agritourism survey, conducted between 2019 and 2020.

Key Findings: What the Data Shows

The study produced several findings directly relevant to farm-based tourism operators managing the business case for visitor experiences:

• 75 percent of respondents reported increased farm revenue attributable to agritourism activity.
• 70 percent of respondents identified grants and financial resources as their most needed form of support, a figure the research team attributed to the near-total absence of dedicated agritourism grant programs in the United States.
• Infrastructure investment needs cited most frequently included visitor pathways, parking areas, compliant bathroom facilities, and accessibility upgrades for visitors with disabilities.
• Regulatory difficulty varied sharply by jurisdiction: 90 percent of Oregon respondents and 78 percent of California respondents reported challenges with regulation, compared to 46 percent of Maine respondents.
• Visitor data collection was identified as a widespread weakness, limiting operators’ ability to understand who is visiting, why, and how to reach new market segments.

UVM Center for Rural Studies Research Specialist Claire Whitehouse, one of the study’s authors, noted that upfront capital requirements are a structural feature of agritourism development, making the absence of targeted grant programs a material constraint on farm operators.

The Business Model Transition: From Production to Hospitality

The study highlighted a consistent pattern: farmers experienced in production agriculture frequently lack the customer service, hospitality, and marketing skills that a visitor-facing operation demands. UVM Extension Professor Lisa Chase, who led both the 2019 and 2026 studies, framed the transition as a sequential decision problem for operators.

The first question is whether moving into agritourism is the right fit for a given farm at all. For those who proceed, the operational focus shifts to identifying the current visitor profile, defining the target visitor profile, and building the outreach strategy to bridge that gap. Chase and Whitehouse both identified technical assistance as a practical mechanism for building these skills, and flagged visitor data collection as the foundational capability that most other business decisions depend on.

The study also recorded a segment of operators for whom revenue was not the primary motivation. Some farms cited community building and agricultural education as their core purpose for welcoming visitors, particularly in rural areas where farm properties serve as a community gathering point.

Global Network and Peer Learning Infrastructure

The study is part of a broader international program coordinated through the Global Agritourism Network (GAN), formed in 2023 following an International Workshop on Agritourism hosted in Burlington, Vermont in 2022. Chase serves as the GAN’s founding president. The network has grown to over 1,400 members across 118 countries in three years. The GAN’s 2026 conference was held in Aberdeen, Scotland during the northern hemisphere summer.

The network’s stated purpose is to build operational and research capacity for agritourism worldwide, and to create structured peer-to-peer exchange between farm operators across jurisdictions. A webinar to discuss the study’s findings is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on 6 October 2026, with registration currently open.

What This Means for WA Operators

This is a United States study, and the regulatory, funding, and infrastructure environment it describes reflects American conditions. However, several of its findings map directly onto operational realities facing Western Australian agritourism operators.

The 70 percent figure seeking dedicated grant support is notable in a WA context. Agritourism operators here have access to a narrower and more competitive funding landscape than primary producers, and the US study’s finding that almost no dedicated grant programs exist for the sector mirrors conditions in WA. Operators should treat any application opportunity for infrastructure or diversification funding as competitive and time-sensitive, and maintain documentation of visitor numbers, revenue contribution, and infrastructure requirements that would support a grant application when programs do open.

The regulatory variability finding is also relevant. The gap between Oregon (90 percent reporting regulatory difficulty) and Maine (46 percent) demonstrates that jurisdiction matters enormously in determining how much compliance burden an operator carries. WA operators working across local government areas, state planning frameworks, and food safety or liquor licensing requirements face similarly variable regulatory conditions depending on their location and the specific activities they offer. Operators who have not recently audited their compliance position across all visitor-facing activities, including event approvals, food handling, and building compliance for visitor facilities, carry regulatory exposure that the US data suggests is a sector-wide pattern, not an isolated risk.

The visitor data gap identified in the study is directly transferable. WA agritourism operators who cannot answer basic questions about where their visitors travel from, how they found the property, what they spent, and what would bring them back are operating without the information base needed to make sound investment decisions or to make a credible case for grant funding or industry advocacy. Basic data collection through booking systems, simple on-arrival questions, or post-visit surveys is a low-cost intervention with outsized strategic value.

On peer learning, the GAN’s 1,400-member network across 118 countries represents an accessible international resource. WA operators with a specific operational challenge, whether in farm stay design, event programming, seasonal visitor management, or pricing, have a legitimate reason to engage with that network directly. Membership and the 6 October 2026 webinar are entry points worth considering for operators who are actively developing or expanding a visitor program.