Sow the seeds of multiple income streams and community connection on your farm. Opening your barn doors to the people is much more than sharing holiday hayrides, farm tours, and bottle-feeding lambs with friends. It is also a means of reconnecting people with their food and diversifying your farm income. Packed with decades of sustainable tourism experiences, Agritourism: A Manual for Diversifying Your Farm Income is an experience-based guide to connecting with the public and developing multiple, sustainable income streams on your farm. Chock-full of case studies, Q&A's, pros and cons, solutions, priorities, and actionable items from agritourism farms that succeeded and failed. Coverage Includes: Determining whether agritourism is right for you and your farm Types of agritourism operations, including off-farm and on-farm experiences Ideas for product and experience scenarios, including one-time, seasonal, and holiday events Making money, including how and what to charge, value-added products and services, and farm accommodation Business basics, including name, accounts, legalities, taxes, and more! If you dream of opening your farm to the public, engaging with people, and developing a diversified, sustainable income, then this A-to-Z tool kit for sustainable tourism is for you.

Author Biography

Matt Stephens was born into a part-time homesteading family. Growing up on a 65-acre central Texas hobby farm, Matt learned from his parents and his rural Depression-surviving grandparents while developing a love for all things that lived and came from a farmstead lifestyle. He has transformed the family farm into a sustainable agritourism business, which has been successfully running for the past decade. He regularly presents on farming and agritourism at conferences around North America and lives in central Texas.