Crop Prices Falling? How Farms Are Using Agritourism to Fill the Gap: 10 Real Farms That Turned a Losing Acre, a Corn Pile and a Cattle Pasture Into Visitor Money
In Cumming, Iowa, a farm family stared at a pile of corn that wasn't worth much at market. So they built a cannon and started letting visitors fire it.
That isn't a joke. Howell's Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch has been a working farm since 1878. On its own website, the family explains that when corn started piling up and profits started shrinking, they had to get creative. The idea for a corn cannon came up around the dinner table. Today it sits beside an 8-acre corn maze, wagon rides, a goat pen and a farm market.
Same corn. Same land. A completely different price tag.
Right now, a lot of farmers are staring at their own version of that corn pile. On September 30, 2026, the public radio program Marketplace reported that more farms are leaning on agritourism because crop prices are falling, the weather keeps turning against them and input costs keep climbing. A Penn State agricultural economist named all three problems in a single breath.
I already broke down the two Ohio farms in that report, and the insurance trap behind them, in Crop Prices Down, Diesel Up: Why Farms Are Turning to Agritourism to Survive. This article goes further. It answers the question every farmer asks next: how big is my gap, and who has actually filled one like it?
You're about to see the per-acre math, ten real farms that found visitor money when the crop let them down, what three university studies say really works, the legal and insurance fine print, and a 30-day test you can run before you spend a single dollar on construction.
A quick word about me. I run Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Malaysia that welcomes paying visitors, and the farm has been featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. I don't grow corn. But I know exactly how it feels when the harvest alone can't carry the farm, and I've spent years studying the farms that fixed that problem.
What you'll learn in this article ✅ The real size of the 2026 gap between crop prices and costs, per bushel and per acre ✅ Why a visitor dollar is worth far more to you than a bushel dollar ✅ 10 real farms (one of them a whole country) that filled the gap, and the lesson from each ✅ What university studies of thousands of farms say makes agritourism profitable ✅ A gap-filler map for grain, livestock, fruit and vegetable farms ✅ The insurance and legal checks to make before your first visitor ✅ A 30-day test plan you can start this week |
The Gap, in Plain Numbers
Let's start with the hard truth, because you can't fill a hole until you've measured it.
USDA's October 2026 crop report puts the season-average price for this year's corn at $4.70 a bushel, ten cents lower than its September forecast. That's higher than the roughly $4.15 USDA estimated for last year's crop. The trouble is what it costs to grow.
Purdue University's 2026 crop budgets put corn's break-even price at $4.94 a bushel on high-productivity soil and $5.68 on low-productivity soil. When Purdue's economists ran those numbers in February, they found expected prices sitting well below break-even, even on the best ground, and projected 2026 earnings well below zero.
Put simply: on the best soil, every bushel is roughly 24 cents short. On poorer ground it's closer to a dollar short. On a 181.2-bushel acre, which is USDA's October national yield forecast, that works out to roughly $43 to $178 lost per acre before you've paid yourself a cent. That's a back-of-the-envelope figure, and your own farm records will tell you the real one, but the direction is clear.
Now add the costs that jumped this year:
Fuel. U.S. diesel hit a record $6.29 a gallon in mid-September, up 68% from $3.74 a year earlier, according to Energy Information Administration data. The American Farm Bureau Federation calculated that farm diesel in Illinois rose from $3.01 to $5.61 a gallon between September 2025 and September 2026, right in the middle of harvest.
Everything else. USDA's September forecast puts total 2026 farm production expenses at a record $492.8 billion, up $21.2 billion from 2025.
The bottom line. USDA expects 2026 net farm income to fall 5.5% after inflation, even with direct government payments forecast at $47.4 billion.
Missouri corn and soybean farmer Jason Kurtz told the Associated Press in September that he was paying twice as much for diesel as the year before. That's at harvest, when the combine can't wait for prices to come down.
And corn isn't even the worst story. In Colorado's San Luis Valley, potato growers asked county commissioners in April for help getting rid of an estimated more than 100 million pounds of surplus potatoes, after oversupply, the loss of a key processing plant and a soft market left them with nowhere to send them.
An October 2026 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City describes a "tale of two farm economies." Cattle ranchers are doing well on historically high prices, while crop farmers are squeezed between low prices, high fertilizer and expensive diesel. A Kansas City Fed economist told Marketplace that only about 15 cents of every food dollar reaches the farm gate.
Hold on to that 15 cents. It's the key to everything that follows.
Field-Tested Play: Try This on Your Farm Work out your own gap before you do anything else. (Your break-even price − this year's price) × your yield × your acres = the gap you need to fill. If you farm 300 acres of corn, yield 180 bushels and you're 50 cents short, your gap is $27,000. Now you have a target, not a worry. Then compare that target with what a visitor business really costs in How Much Does It Cost to Start an Agritourism Business? |
Why a Visitor Dollar Fills the Gap When a Bushel Can't
Think about those 15 cents again. When you sell a bushel, you sell into a commodity market. Somebody else earns the other 85 cents: the processor, the trucker, the grocer and the brand.
When a family drives to your farm, they pay you the whole dollar. They pay retail for the pumpkin, admission for the maze and a little extra for the memory. Nobody sets that price on a futures board in Chicago. You do.
That's why the same acre can earn wildly different money depending on whether you sell what grows on it or the experience of standing in it.
At Boots Farms near Moberly, Missouri, the family's corn maze takes about one acre out of the harvest. Missouri journalists covering the farm cited a report finding that a single maze can bring in more revenue than the corn harvested from that same field. Here's a simple picture of why.
The numbers on the right are a deliberately modest example: 500 paying guests at the $10 that Boots Farms charges for its maze and activities. Your crowd and your price will differ. But look at the shape of it. The visitor acre doesn't need a good market year. It needs a dry Saturday, a reason to come and a way for people to find you.
And here's the part most people miss: you don't always lose the crop. At Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, California, the family harvests its huge corn maze after Halloween, and the corn goes to local dairies as feed. Same acre, two paychecks.
By the numbers: the visitor economy you're stepping into $1.26 billion: what U.S. farms earned from agritourism and recreational services in 2022, up 12.4% from 2017 after inflation (USDA Economic Research Service). $44,004: the average agritourism income per agritourism farm in 2022 (Penn State's analysis of the Census of Agriculture). 1.5%: the share of U.S. farms reporting any agritourism income. Almost every other farm is still selling only bushels, pounds and gallons. 57%: the share of U.S. counties where farms earned agritourism income in 2022 (USDA Economic Research Service). |
If you want the full statistical picture, I've pulled every key number into one place in Agritourism Statistics 2026: Income, Growth and Who Earns the Most.
10 Real Farms That Filled the Gap (and the Lesson From Each)
Theory is cheap. Here's what real farmers did when the main crop stopped paying. I chose farms of different sizes, crops and states on purpose, plus one whole country, so you can find the story that looks most like yours.
Farm No. 1: Derthick's Farm and Corn Maze, Ohio, when the hay pays nothing
MaryEllen Hamlin's family started farming southeast of Cleveland in 1806. She told Marketplace that she makes about 40 acres of hay but there's no income in it, and the corn they sell after the maze season doesn't fetch a great price either.
So what pays? According to Hamlin, virtually all of the farm's profit now comes from agritourism. The 17-acre corn maze started in the late 2000s, and the farm has since added a zip line, slides and farm animals to pet.
She also gave two honest warnings. The insurance she needs for agritourism gets more expensive every year, and two competing corn mazes have opened on nearby farms.
The lesson: agritourism can carry the whole farm, but it's a real business with competitors and rising overheads, not a hobby on the side. Budget for higher insurance every year, and give families a clear reason to choose you over the maze down the road.
Farm No. 2: Howell's Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch, Iowa, where the surplus became the attraction
You met Howell's at the top of this article. It has been a working farm in Cumming, Iowa, since 1878, and the family says it has evolved from cattle, hogs and row crops to greenhouses, dried flowers, pumpkins and what they call agri-tainment.
When they were left with corn that wasn't worth much at market, they stopped fighting the market and turned the problem into a game. Their corn cannon, built on the farm, lets visitors launch cobs at fun targets. Around it sit an 8-acre corn maze, a corn pool, pedal go-karts, wagon rides and a goat pen.
The lesson: look at what's going wrong on your farm and ask, "Could visitors enjoy this?" Surplus crops, old tractors, a muddy creek and a barn full of straw bales have all become paid attractions somewhere.
Risk Check: anything that launches, swings or climbs Corn cannons, apple slingshots, zip lines and tall hay-bale climbs pull in crowds, but they're exactly the activities insurers ask about first. Before you build one, confirm in writing that your policy covers that activity, set up a fenced safety zone with a staff member on duty, and post your state's agritourism warning sign where every visitor will see it. See Agritourism Warning Signs: Where to Post Them and 10 Common Agritourism Safety Hazards and How to Address Them. |
Farm No. 3: Boots Farms, Missouri, where one acre and a teenager's idea paid off
The Boots family's fall business near Moberly began as a high school FFA project. Their son, Hunter, planted a pumpkin patch, and the corn maze followed, the Columbia Missourian and KCUR reported in October 2025.
The maze takes about an acre out of the corn harvest. The farm charges $10 for the maze and its other activities, and the family estimates that upwards of 1,000 families visit each year, many of them coming back more than once.
Hunter, by then a University of Missouri student studying agricultural systems technology, said the family planned to bring in more attractions and games, and maybe a bigger maze over time.
The lesson: you don't need to bet the farm. One acre, one season, one simple price. Then grow what works. And if there's a young person in your family pushing a new idea, give them the keys.
Field-Tested Play: Try This on Your Farm Hand one acre and one season to the youngest adult in your family. Give them a small budget, a $10 price and one rule: track every visitor and every dollar. You'll learn more from that single acre than from a year of reading about agritourism. Want the step-by-step version? Read From Farm to Cash Flow: How to Test Agritourism With a 60-Minute MVP. |
Farm No. 4: Fort Vannoy Farms, Oregon, opened "to save the farm"
Fort Vannoy Farms in Grants Pass, Oregon, didn't open its gates for fun. In 2022 the farm's events coordinator, Carri O'Brien, told TV station KTVL that the farm started agritourism to save the farm, at a time when milk prices, cattle prices and more were falling.
Owner Bob Crouse said it began with teaching. He wanted children to know that pumpkins grow in a field, not in a cardboard box. That led to U-pick strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries, plus a pumpkin patch and corn maze. By 2022 the farm was hosting its 13th annual maze and hiring seasonal workers every October.
The lesson: if selling feels uncomfortable, start by teaching. School groups and curious families turn into paying customers once they've stood in your field. See The Exact Farm Experiences Schools Happily Pay For.
Farm No. 5: Joe Farm, Alabama, where the cattle stayed and the birds started paying
Not every gap-filler needs a corn maze. Christopher Joe works as a district conservationist for USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. In 2019 he began running birdwatching tours on his father's multigenerational Black Angus cattle farm in Newbern, Alabama, Marketplace reported in August 2026. He estimates the tours have brought more than 3,000 visitors to the farm.
The market behind him is enormous. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 96 million Americans watch birds, generating more than $100 billion in economic activity. Some of them travel overseas to see exotic birds. Others look for birds closer to home, and a quiet farm with a pond and a guide who knows what's flying past is exactly that kind of place.
Joe described the tours as a legacy effort, part of keeping the farm sustainable for the generations to come.
The lesson: sometimes the product is already on your land. Wetlands, ponds, old hedgerows, wildflowers and wildlife are worth real money to the people who love them, and they cost you nothing to grow. See Creating Wildlife-Friendly Habitats to Attract Visitors to Your Farm.
Farm No. 6: Maize in the City, Colorado, 25 seasons and still going in a drought
Mark Villano's family has farmed the same land in the Denver area since the 1980s. They opened to the public in 2001 with about 4 acres and room for a dozen cars, Denver7 reported in September 2026.
This year Villano grew 50 acres of corn in what he called, citing the local ditch companies, by far the worst dry year going back to the 1800s. The corn got only four full waterings all season. The farm still opened for its 25th season of agritourism, with two corn mazes, a market, a pumpkin store and a pick-your-own pumpkin patch.
The lesson: start small and let it compound. Four acres and 12 parking spots became a regional tradition. And notice what happened in a terrible growing year: a drought-stunted crop is a disaster at the elevator, but a maze only needs stalks tall enough to get lost in.
Farm No. 7: Patterson Fruit Farm, Ohio, where 50 straw bales moved the whole market
Bill Patterson's family has farmed east of Cleveland since the mid-19th century. In the 1990s their on-farm market got so crowded that they piled up 50 straw bales to draw people out of it, and hundreds of kids clambered over them. That pile grew into tractor rides, a slide barn and tire swings, and eventually the ticketed fun area the farm runs today.
Today about one-fifth of the farm's revenue comes from its ticketed fun fest, weddings and pick-your-own apples, Marketplace reported. Most of the rest comes from sales at the farm market and in local grocery stores.
The lesson: the fun area isn't only a profit center. It's the reason families make the trip to the market every fall. Agritourism protects the price of everything else you sell. I cover Patterson's in more detail in Crop Prices Down, Diesel Up.
Farm No. 8: Conner's A-Maize-ing Acres, Florida, betting that visitors will accept a price rise
Agritourism farms feel the diesel bill too. Eddie Lee Conner runs five tractors at his farm in Hilliard, Florida, including the one that pulls his cow train. In September 2026 he told Action News Jax that diesel had passed $5 a gallon, and that electricity and insurance were up as well.
So he did something a grain farmer can't do with a bushel. He raised his price. Admission went up $3 to $22.95, the first increase in six years, and he still expected about 20,000 visitors this fall. He also switched to buying 200 to 300 gallons of diesel at a time instead of filling his 500-gallon tank, and warned he might trim attractions if costs keep climbing.
The lesson: when you sell an experience, you set the price. Review it every season. A $3 rise across 20,000 paying guests is up to $60,000 of extra revenue, which covers a lot of diesel. See The Best Way to Set Entry Fees and Ticket Pricing for Agritourism.
Farm No. 9: Cool Patch Pumpkins, California, two paychecks from one field
Just off Interstate 80 in Dixon, about 30 miles west of Sacramento, the Cooley family grows what CapRadio described as one of the largest corn mazes in the world: 40 acres, open from September through Halloween.
After Halloween the corn is harvested and used as feed by local dairies, and the pumpkins help fertilize the ground as crops rotate. Over the years the family added hay rides, a giant hay castle and a corn bath filled with thousands of kernels.
The lesson: design your attraction so the crop still has a buyer at the end. A maze, a sunflower field or a U-pick patch can earn a visitor fee first and a commodity price second.
Farm No. 10: Not one farm but a whole country, the United Kingdom
If you think diversifying is a fringe idea, look across the Atlantic. In England, 72% of farm businesses had some kind of diversified activity in 2024/25, up from 61% in 2014/15, according to Defra's farm accounts for England. Income from diversified activities averaged £22,400 per farm, about 31% of total farm business income.
In Scotland, 60% of farms had at least one diversified activity in 2024-25, and the income gap between farms with and without diversification widened to £32,600, according to Scottish Government statistics.
British farmers have lived through the same cycle of weak prices and rising costs, and on top of that their old subsidy payments are being phased out. Diversification there has become normal business planning. I profiled some of the most inspiring examples in 9 Lessons From the 2026 British Farming Awards Finalists.
The lesson: farms that wait until they're desperate start late. Farms that diversify while they still have some cash and energy get to choose their best idea, not just the fastest one.
And one more: my own farm in Malaysia
Durian farmers have a gap problem too, just a different shape. At Bloopy Durians, our durian seasons are short, roughly December to February and June to August. Outside those months there's no fruit to sell.
Two things changed the game for us. The first was visitors. During durian season we welcome up to 100 visitors a week, and add-ons like our 4x4 orchard ride turn a fruit-buying trip into a day out. I wrote about that in How a 4WD Agritourism Adventure Ride Brought Revenue to My Durian Farm. The second was a WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy whenever our durians are available, so we're never stuck taking whatever a middleman offers.
The lesson: own the customer relationship. A buyer can cut your price overnight. A list of people who already love your farm can't be taken away from you.
Want more stories like these? I've written full case studies of farms that made the same jump: Applecrest Farm Orchards, which flipped from 90% wholesale to 80% retail; Carter Mountain Orchard, rebuilt after a 1974 freeze killed its crop; Kuipers Family Farm, a weekend pumpkin patch that now draws more than 150,000 visitors a year; and Farmer Copleys in England.
What the Research Says Actually Works
Stories inspire you. Data protects you from expensive mistakes. Here's what university researchers found when they studied thousands of agritourism farms.
1. Agritourism raises profit most on small, working farms
Rutgers University economists used Census of Agriculture records to compare New Jersey farms that offered agritourism with similar farms that didn't. Their 2014 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics found that agritourism had a statistically significant positive effect on net cash income per acre. The biggest gains went to small farms run by people who farm as their main job. For large farms, the effect wasn't statistically significant.
That's good news for exactly the kind of family farm being squeezed hardest right now.
2. Small farms are catching up fast
Penn State's analysis of the 2022 Census of Agriculture found that farms under 50 acres now earn a quarter of all U.S. agritourism income. On farms under 10 acres, average agritourism income more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, rising 105% to $27,010 a year.
3. Profit follows experience, on-farm sales and events
A national survey of 1,834 farms and ranches open to visitors, published in 2021 by a team led by University of Vermont researchers, found that agritourism profitability was linked to the operator's years of experience, farm scale, selling products on the farm, and offering events and entertainment.
Translation for a busy farmer: start early so you build experience, sell something on site, and give people an event to come for.
4. Agritourism margins can beat the farm's
The University of Vermont's 2026 national report, based on 1,065 farms, estimated a median profit margin of about 24% on agritourism, compared with about 17% for the whole farm. On average, agritourism made up 72% of participating farms' profit, though the authors stress these are rough estimates. The most common top motivation was to increase farm revenue, rated very important by 71% of operators.
5. Many farms don't even charge at the gate
A 2026 farm market pricing survey reported by Fruit Growers News found that 70% of farm market operators don't charge admission for their agritourism activities. Instead, they use events to bring families in and earn the money at the market and the U-pick field. Of those that do charge, 64% set admission between $5 and $10.
So there's more than one model. Patterson's sells tickets to its fun fest. Applecrest lets everyone in free and sells apples and cider. Both work, because both get families onto the farm.
Field-Tested Play: Try This on Your Farm Boil the research down to one sentence you can act on: small farm + on-farm sales + one event = the profitable pattern. If you do nothing else this year, pick one weekend event and make sure every visitor walks past something to buy on the way out. For ideas, see Farm Event Ideas: 30 Events by Season and Upsells That Double Your Agritourism Revenue. |
Pick Your Gap-Filler: A Map by Farm Type
The best gap-filler is the one that fits what you already grow, own and enjoy doing. Find your farm type on this map, then look at the ideas around it.
Here's how the ten farms in this article line up, so you can see which model sits closest to your own operation.
Gap-filler | Works best on | Start-up effort | Real farm doing it |
Corn maze and fall fun | Grain and row-crop farms near towns | Medium | Boots Farms, Derthick's, Maize in the City, Cool Patch |
Surplus attraction (corn cannon, hay climb) | Any farm with a by-product | Low to medium | Howell's Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch |
Birdwatching and nature tours | Cattle, wetland and woodland farms | Low | Joe Farm |
U-pick and farm education | Fruit, berry and vegetable farms | Low to medium | Fort Vannoy Farms |
Fun area that feeds a farm market | Orchards and farm stands | Medium | Patterson Fruit Farm |
Ticketed family attraction | Farms near a big population | Medium to high | Conner's A-Maize-ing Acres |
Fruit tasting and orchard rides | Seasonal fruit farms | Low | Bloopy Durians |
Not sure which fits you best? Browse Agritourism Activities: 50 Ideas Ranked by Startup Cost and Profit, or if you grow vegetables, start with Agritourism Ideas for Vegetable Growers.
The Legal and Insurance Fine Print (Read This Before You Open the Gate)
Every farm in this article shares one thing the cheerful photos don't show: each of them had to deal with liability. Here's what I'd want every farmer to know before the first paying visitor arrives.
Your farm policy probably wasn't written for paying visitors. Many standard farm policies limit or exclude commercial activities with the public. Tell your agent exactly what you plan to do, in writing, and get the answer in writing.
Expect the premium to rise. MaryEllen Hamlin told Marketplace her agritourism insurance goes up every year, and Eddie Lee Conner listed insurance among his rising costs. Across the U.S. market, WTW reported overall commercial insurance rates up 2.5% in early 2026, while liability lines such as umbrella and commercial auto kept rising because of bigger jury verdicts. In the University of Vermont study, 80% of agritourism farms called the cost or availability of insurance a challenge.
Your state may protect you, but only if you follow its rules. The National Agricultural Law Center says over half of U.S. states have enacted statutes that address agritourism. Many of those laws only protect you if you post a warning sign, often with exact wording set by the law. Miss the sign and you can lose the protection. My 50-state guide below shows the rules state by state.
Waivers help, but they're not a shield on their own. A well-written waiver works alongside your state's statute and your insurance, not instead of them.
Check zoning and food rules early. Weddings, events, food sales and using a barn for visitors can each need their own permit.
Separate the businesses. Many operators run agritourism through a separate entity, such as an LLC, with its own bank account and insurance. Ask your attorney and accountant whether that suits your farm.
Risk Check: this is not legal advice Laws, insurance policies and zoning rules differ by country, state and county. Use this section as a checklist for conversations with your own attorney, insurance agent and local planning office, not as a substitute for them. |
Go deeper with these guides: Agritourism Laws by State, Agritourism Insurance: What It Covers, What It Costs and How to Get Quotes, Can't Find Agritourism Insurance?, Do Liability Waivers Protect Your Farm?, Is Your Barn Legal for Visitors? and Selling Food on Your Farm and the Permits Each Option Needs.
Your 30-Day Gap-Filler Test
Here's how I'd go from "crop prices are killing us" to real visitor money without risking a big build. It takes four weeks, and most of it costs nothing but your time.
Week 1: Measure the gap. Use the formula above and write the number down. That's the target for your visitor business.
Week 1: List what you already own. Fields near the road, a barn, a pond, animals, old equipment, a view, a family story. Most good ideas use what's already there. See How to Launch an Agritourism Business Using Only the Infrastructure You Already Own.
Week 2: Pick one idea. Use the map above. Choose the one that fits your crop, your calendar and your energy.
Week 2: Make three calls. Your insurance agent, your county planning office and, if needed, an attorney. Fix any problems before you invite anyone.
Week 3: Pre-sell one test day. Set a price, post it on Facebook and your Google Business Profile, and take bookings in advance. If nobody books, you've learned something important for almost nothing.
Week 4: Run it and measure. Count visitors, money per visitor, on-farm sales per visitor and your costs. Ask every guest what they'd pay to come back.
Day 30: Decide. Grow it, change it or drop it. Then repeat with the next idea.
Now go back to the target you wrote down in Week 1. If your gap is $27,000 and your test day showed $20 per visitor, you need about 1,350 paying visitors a year. That's roughly 26 a week across the year, or about 113 every weekend during a 12-weekend fall season. Suddenly the gap looks like something you can actually fill.
For more on bringing those visitors in, read How to Encourage Visitors to Your Farm: 21 Ways That Work and How Small Farms Can Make Their First $1,000 From Visitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are farms turning to agritourism in 2026?
Because the gap between crop prices and costs is wide. USDA's October 2026 forecast puts the season-average corn price at $4.70 a bushel, below Purdue University's 2026 break-even estimates of $4.94 to $5.68, while diesel hit record highs and USDA forecasts total farm expenses at a record $492.8 billion. Agritourism lets a farm earn retail and experience prices that the farmer sets.
Can a corn maze really earn more than the corn?
It can. Missouri journalists cited a report finding that a single maze can bring in more revenue than the corn harvested from the same field. As an illustration, 500 guests paying $10 brings in $5,000 from about an acre, while 181.2 bushels of corn at $4.70 is about $852 before costs. Some farms, like Cool Patch Pumpkins in California, still harvest the maze corn afterwards, and it's used as feed by local dairies.
What is the best agritourism idea for a grain farmer?
Fall attractions built on the crop you already grow, such as a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, a corn pool or a sunflower field. They use the equipment and skills you already have, and the crop can often still be harvested and sold afterwards.
How much can a small farm earn from agritourism?
U.S. farms with agritourism averaged $44,004 in agritourism income in 2022. Farms under 10 acres averaged $27,010, more than double their 2017 level, according to Penn State's analysis of the Census of Agriculture. Results vary widely, so test small before you invest.
Do I need special insurance to host visitors on my farm?
In most cases, yes. Many standard farm policies limit or exclude paying visitors and commercial activities. Talk to your insurance agent before your first visitor arrives, and check your state's agritourism law and warning-sign rules.
Should I still start agritourism if crop prices recover?
Yes, if it fits your farm. Crop prices rise and fall, but a visitor business you price yourself adds a second income stream that doesn't move with the futures market. Several farms in this article built their visitor business in hard times and kept it going in good ones.
Your Next Step: Find Out Which Gap-Filler Fits Your Farm
The farms in this article didn't wait for prices to recover. Derthick's, Howell's, Boots, Fort Vannoy, Joe Farm and the rest each looked at what they already had and found a way to get paid for it.
You can do the same, and you don't have to guess where to start.
Step 1: Take the free Farm Readiness Quiz. In a few minutes you'll see which parts of your farm are ready for visitors and what to fix first.
Step 2: Download the free ebook, The 21-Point Agritourism Blueprint. It's the step-by-step checklist for planning, pricing and opening your farm to paying visitors.
P.S. Remember the corn pile in Iowa that became a cannon? Somewhere on your farm there's a "problem" that visitors would happily pay to enjoy. Take the quiz now and find out what yours is.
Sources
Figures in this article come from the sources below. Where I calculated a per-acre or per-visitor figure from published numbers, I say so in the text and label it as an estimate or illustration.
Marketplace: An Alabama cattle farm with a bird-tourism side hustle (August 21, 2026)
DTN/Progressive Farmer: USDA October 2026 Crop Production and WASDE summary
Farm Talk: July 2026 USDA report (2025/26 corn price estimate of $4.15)
Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture: What 2026 crop budgets mean (February 11, 2026)
American Farm Bureau Federation: Diesel Costs Increase for Harvest (October 1, 2026)
Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Record diesel prices squeeze U.S. farmers (September 18, 2026)
Howell's Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch: Corn Mazes and Cozy Moments (farm blog, September 16, 2025)
KCUR: This Missouri farm's corn maze boosts business (October 25, 2025)
KTVL: Fort Vannoy Farms is hosting its 13th annual Corn Maze, Pumpkin Patch (October 2, 2022)
UK Government (Defra): Farm accounts in England, Chapter 5: Diversification 2024/25
UK Government (Defra): Farm accounts in England, Chapter 2: Key results 2024/25
Farmers Weekly: Almost three-quarters of farms diversify to subsidise income
Penn State NERCRD: Agritourism and Recreational Services on US Farms, Data Brief 2024-1
University of Vermont: Agritourism Across the United States (2026 report)
Fruit Growers News: Farm market operators rethink pricing amid rising costs (2026 survey)
Insurance Business: US commercial insurance rates slow for third consecutive quarter, WTW Q1 2026
National Agricultural Law Center: States' agritourism statutes compilation (updated December 2025)
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