Australian Farmers Call It 'Drought-Proofing': How Paying Guests Carried 6 Family Farms Through Drought and Bad Seasons

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By December 2019, the rain gauge on the McInnis family's sheep station in South Australia's Flinders Ranges had recorded just 78 mm for the year. A normal year there brings 250 to 280 mm. The year before brought 100. The year before that, 150.

The flock followed the rain down. Over three years, Sharon and Allen McInnis went from 2,000 breeding ewes to hand-feeding 450. Their small cattle herd was sold in October 2017.

The family has been on that land for about 140 years. The Stock Journal reported that without tourism, they would have had to walk away from it.

Instead, they stayed. Years earlier, in 2013, they had opened a four-bedroom guest house. An eco-tent followed in 2014, then a renovated old farmhouse. By the end of 2019, their station stay business, Flinders Bush Retreats, had become the family's main income, with about 86% occupancy in the months they open. That same year it won gold at the South Australian Tourism Awards.

"The drought made people think outside the square," Sharon told the Stock Journal.

In Australia, farmers call it "drought-proofing": storing water, saving feed, protecting soil. This article is about the half most guides leave out. Income that doesn't need rain.

Black cattle grazing on dry golden pasture under a cloudy sky in rural Victoria, Australia, the kind of dry season that makes drought-proofing farm income urgent — Dry summer pasture in rural Victoria, Australia. Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: DJ Paine / Unsplash.

The Short Answer

Drought-proofing a farm usually means water, feed and soil. But a drought also wipes out income, and that's the part that forces families off the land. The farms in this article drought-proofed their income by adding paying guests: farm stays, campsites, tours, shearing shows and shed-door sales. Visitors kept coming when the grass didn't. It isn't a cure. On most farms, guest income won't replace a full harvest. But it can pay the rates, buy feed and stop you selling your best breeding stock at the bottom of the market. Below: what one dry year does to farm profits, six Australian farms that did it, a 5-step plan and the questions to ask before you open your gate.

What One Dry Year Really Does to a Farm's Income

You don't need a chart to know drought hurts. But the numbers show how fast a good farm becomes a losing one.

ABARES, the Australian Government's farm research bureau, modelled typical farms in normal and dry years. A typical cropping farm making about A$230,000 profit in a typical year lost about A$125,000 in a 1-in-10 dry year. A typical beef farm went from about A$60,000 profit to a A$5,000 loss in a dry year.

Bar chart from ABARES showing a typical Australian cropping farm going from A$230,000 profit in a typical year to a A$125,000 loss in a dry year, and a beef farm from A$60,000 profit to a A$5,000 loss — One dry year can turn a healthy profit into a loss. Source: ABARES.

And it's getting worse. ABARES estimates that under the climate of 2015-16 to 2019-20, a broadacre farm's profit in a drought year was 37.1% below a normal year. Under the conditions of 1988-89 to 1992-93, the gap was 19.9%. Same kind of dry year, almost double the damage.

The 2017 to 2019 drought hit most of Australia. The Reserve Bank of Australia reported that farm GDP had fallen 22% since early 2017, and that 2019 was Australia's warmest and driest year on record. In early 2020, ABARES forecast the national sheep flock would be the smallest since 1904.

Here is the number that matters most for your planning. On small farms, ABARES found, about half of household income already comes from off the farm. On large farms, it's about 6%.

Small farms have been quietly drought-proofing for years, with jobs in town. The question this article asks is simple: could that second income come from the farm itself?

If your bad season looks like frost or hail rather than drought, the logic is the same. I covered that in One April Freeze, $1 Million in Lost U-Pick Sales.

Why Guest Income Doesn't Dry Up With the Dams

A drought takes your grass, your water and your stock prices. It doesn't take away a city family's school holidays.

Tourism Research Australia counted 18.5 million trips in 2024 that included a farm visit, a winery, a farm gate, a food market, a brewery, a distillery or an Aboriginal food experience. Visitors spent A$20.3 billion on those trips, and almost three in four went to regional Australia.

That A$20.3 billion is spending on the whole trip (fuel, meals, motels), not money paid to farms. But it shows how many people want what your farm already has.

A visitor's hand feeding grain to a young cream-coloured cow over a wooden rail on an Australian farm, the kind of simple farm experience city guests pay for — To you it's feeding time. To a city family it's the highlight of the trip. Illustrative photo taken in Kingscliff, NSW, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Hailey Tong / Unsplash.

So where does "$19 billion by 2030" come from?

You may have seen headlines saying Australian agritourism is heading for about $19 billion. The figure traces back to a 2019 CSIRO report. It estimated agri-related tourism could be worth around A$18.6 billion a year by 2030, growing about 5% a year from roughly A$9.4 billion in 2016, in 2018 dollars.

Two things are worth knowing. First, it's an estimate of the opportunity, not a government target. CSIRO itself says its opportunity sizes are "not necessarily reflective of growth or realised value." Second, the newer A$20.3 billion figure comes from a different year, definition and method, so the two numbers can't be compared like for like.

Infographic explaining two Australian agritourism figures: CSIRO's A$18.6 billion a year by 2030 opportunity estimate and Tourism Research Australia's A$20.3 billion whole-trip spend in 2024 — The two big numbers, side by side. Sources: CSIRO (2019); Tourism Research Australia (2025).

Either way, the direction is clear. Australian Regional Tourism reports that agritourism operators listed on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse rose from 4,490 in September 2020 to 6,714 by November 2023, with farm stays up 240%. More farmers are opening their gates, and visitors are coming. For the bigger picture, see Agritourism in Australia.

Six Australian Farms That Drought-Proofed With Visitors

Sheep grazing on dry pasture under a glowing orange sunset sky in rural Australia — Dry pasture, still beautiful to a visitor. Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Hamish / Unsplash.

1. Cobbora Station, NSW: from 650 cattle to 50, and back again

Sally and Mark Dent run Cobbora Station near Dunedoo in central west NSW, a beef property established in 1901. By 2017, the drought had forced them to sell all but 50 of their 650 cattle. Sally took teaching work. Mark took an off-farm job in agribusiness.

They also turned empty workers' quarters into paid accommodation, with river walks and poddy calves for guests to feed. Later came an Airbnb in an old garden cottage, a Hipcamp campsite in a paddock with a drop toilet near a dam, and morning and afternoon teas for cyclists riding the Central West Cycle Trail.

At first, the Hipcamp money alone covered the property's yearly rates. The extra income helped the family restock slowly, and the herd came back to almost pre-drought levels.

"I think it reduces the risk a bit," Sally told The Land. She was honest about the work, too. The Airbnb was lucrative in its first year, but cleaning and washing with no laundromat nearby took real effort.

Bar chart showing Cobbora Station's beef herd falling from 650 to 50 and Flinders Bush Retreats' breeding ewes falling from 2,000 to 450 during the 2017 to 2019 drought — Both families kept going because a second income kept coming in. Sources: AAP (2021); Stock Journal (2019).

Field-Tested Play: Give your first guest income one job

The Dents' campsite started by covering the council rates. A small, specific target like that is easier to hit and easier to measure than "some extra money". Pick one bill: rates, feed, school fees. Then size your first guest offer to pay it. My guide to what Hipcamp hosts really earn has a first-season calculator.

2. Hidden Pocket dairy, Queensland: four campsites and a missing milk cheque

Dairy farmer Libby Rough, at Moy Pocket near Kenilworth in Queensland, lived through what every dairy family fears. Severe drought forced the family to sell 40 milking cows to the meatworks. Then came three months with no milk payment at all.

"We didn't get a milk cheque for three months," she told the ABC.

The family set up four simple, unpowered riverside campsites and listed them on Youcamp, a platform Hipcamp bought in August 2020. She listed them to help pay for groceries and school costs. By early 2022, those campsites had brought in more than A$50,000 since August 2020, and the money had gone into fencing and repairing the road the milk tanker uses.

Four campsites. No new buildings. Just a river, a flat paddock and an open gate.

3. Mt Bundy Station, Northern Territory: half cattle, half guests

Sue Witham runs about 900 cattle on Mt Bundy Station near Adelaide River, selling to Indonesia, Vietnam and a local meatworks. Guests stay in the station's 100-year-old stockmen's, cook's and manager's quarters on the riverbank, or in cabins and campsites.

"Our income is now 50 per cent tourism and 50 per cent cattle," she told the ABC in 2021.

Paul Burke of the NT Farmers Association said tourism "insulates them and assists in difficult times." Sue also named the hard part: insurance and liability make tours and mustering experiences difficult to offer. More on that below.

4. Curringa Farm, Tasmania: the three-legged stool

At Curringa Farm near Hamilton, Tasmania, Tim Parsons' parents welcomed the first farm stay guests in 1984, and the family began farm tours in 1989. Tim and Jane Parsons, who took over in 2002, now run nine cottages, a function centre, shearing demonstrations and working-dog shows.

Their income now splits about three ways: prime lamb, accommodation and tours. Tim told Stock & Land that agritourism protected the farm from poor sheep prices and weather extremes, and that it mattered most during Tasmania's recent drought and a run of poor sheep prices.

One detail shows how differently visitors value the same work. Stock & Land reported that shearing a sheep during a tour could make the family about A$1,000, far more than an average ewe's wool clip.

Curringa won the World Agritourism Award in 2023 and again in 2024.

Diagram of Curringa Farm in Tasmania showing one farm income held up by three equal legs: prime lamb, farm stay cottages and farm tours — When one leg wobbles, two still stand. Sources: Stock & Land (2024); Tasmanian Country (2025).

Field-Tested Play: Sell the job you already do

Shearing, mustering, milking, feeding calves. To you it's a chore. To a city visitor it's the show. Price the demonstration, not just the product. It's the same idea behind the Sydney oyster farm that sells immersion instead of oysters.

5. Paracombe Premium Perry, South Australia: when hail did what drought does

Bad seasons aren't only droughts. Damian and Amelia McArdle grow 12 hectares of organic pears in the Adelaide Hills. In 2017-18, hail hit twice and damaged a huge amount of fruit.

They answered with a "shed door" venue for food, functions, tours, tastings and blend-your-own days. Damaged fruit now goes into cider and juice, so it still earns.

Damian estimated in late 2023 that the shed door had overtaken the orchard in revenue in about three of the previous four years. Amelia left her off-farm job to work on the property full time.

"Tourism has given us resilience, year in, year out," Damian said.

6. Linga Longa, NSW: the cottage that bought the feed

Near Taree on the NSW mid-north coast, Greg and Lauren Newell raise pasture-fed beef. During the 2018 drought, they rented out a renovated cottage on Airbnb and offered farm walks. About every second guest came from Sydney. The rent helped pay for feeding their animals.

"The Airbnb has been a saviour for us," Greg told the ABC.

It's Not Just Australia

In south-western Namibia, Kobus and Kirsty de Klerk sold cattle to fund a campsite at Mount D'Urban, in the middle of a drought that ran from about 2012 to 2019. Building started in August 2017, and the lights went on in March 2018. Kobus estimated the campsite's income during the drought was worth roughly 200 marketable lambs, money that covered some running costs and eased the pressure to sell more stock to buy feed.

In Utah's Sanpete County, where water is scarce, Brett and Jenna Madsen run a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, weddings and events at Sunder Creek Farms. That income has covered farm payments and offset losses in hard years. "It keeps us going," Jenna told FOX 13.

The pattern shows up in national data too. In the United States, 28,617 farms earned US$1.26 billion from agritourism and recreation in 2022, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture. In England, Defra reports that 72% of farm businesses had some diversified activity in 2024/25. You'll find more numbers in my agritourism statistics guide, and more farm stories in Crop Prices Falling? How Farms Are Using Agritourism to Fill the Gap.

Which Guest Income Works in a Drought Year?

Not every idea survives a dry year. A pick-your-own needs fruit. A farm stay only needs a bed and a view. Here's how the common options compare.

Guest income	Needs rain to work?	Start-up effort	Real example
Farm stay in an existing building	No	Low to medium	Cobbora Station's workers' quarters
Unpowered campsites	No, but guests still need water	Low	Hidden Pocket's four riverside sites
Farm tours, shearing and dog shows	No	Low	Curringa Farm, Tasmania
Shed door, tastings, value-added products	Partly: damaged fruit can still be used	Medium	Paracombe Premium Perry
Pick-your-own	Yes	Low to medium	Weather-dependent: pair it with another idea
Weddings and events	Partly: dry paddocks photograph badly	High	Sunder Creek Farms, Utah

Reality Check: Guests aren't weather-proof either

Tourism cushions a bad season. It doesn't cancel it.

Floods close roads. Callubri Station in central west NSW started farm stays to diversify after severe droughts, yet still has to reschedule guests when its dirt roads flood.
Shocks hit visitors too. Italy's farmhouses had about 14 million visitors in 2019, then saw visitor numbers drop by 80% when the pandemic hit.
A cushion, not a replacement. A 2020 report published by the National Farmers' Federation found that off-farm income was only about 15% of farm profits before a drought, flood or fire.
Guests use your water. Showers, toilets and drinking water don't stop when your tanks run low. Plan for it before you take bookings.

The 5-Step Plan to Drought-Proof Your Farm Income

Flowchart of a 5-step plan to drought-proof farm income: start in a good year, use what you already have, pick guests who don't need rain, check the paperwork, keep every guest's contact — Build it in the good years so it's ready for the bad ones.

Step 1: Start in a good year

Every farm above had guest income running before or during the worst of the drought. The McInnis family opened their first guest house in 2013, four years before the rain failed. Building a guest business takes cash, energy and time to earn reviews. All three are scarce once the dams are empty.

Bar chart of yearly rainfall at the McInnis family sheep station in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia: about 250 to 280 mm in a normal year, then 150 mm in 2017, 100 mm in 2018 and 78 mm in 2019 to early December — Their guest house was already open when the rain failed. Source: Stock Journal (2019).

Step 2: Use what you already have

Look at what these farms used: workers' quarters, 100-year-old stockmen's quarters, an old garden cottage, a riverbank, a paddock near a dam, a shearing shed. None of them started by building a resort. I walk through this in How to Launch an Agritourism Business Using Only the Infrastructure You Already Own.

An old timber farm cottage with a tin roof and water tank beside a fenced paddock and gum trees in New South Wales, the kind of existing building that can become farm stay accommodation — Old quarters, new income. Illustrative photo from New South Wales, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Peter Rawlings / Unsplash.

Step 3: Pick guests who don't need rain

City guests come for space, animals, quiet and your story. A brown paddock doesn't stop a farm stay, a shearing show or a shed-door tasting. Weather-dependent ideas like pick-your-own can still work, but pair them with at least one that doesn't need the crop. For year-round ideas, see The 12-Month Farm.

Step 4: Check the paperwork first

Council approval, insurance and food rules come before your first booking, not after. You will find the exact questions to ask in the paperwork section below.

Step 5: Keep every guest's contact

The guest who stayed in a good year is your easiest booking in a bad one. Collect names and phone numbers or emails, ask for reviews, and stay in touch between visits. A full guest list can fill a hard season before it arrives.

Field-Tested Play: Write your "dry year" offer now

While the grass is green, write one offer you'll send your guest list when the season turns: a midweek farm stay rate, a shearing-day tour or a "meet the farm" weekend. When you need the cash, the message is ready to go.

What My Durian Farm Taught Me About Bad Seasons

At Bloopy Durians, my farm in Bentong, Malaysia, the trees decide the calendar. Our durian seasons last about four to five months a year in total, roughly December to February and June to August. When the trees aren't fruiting, there's nothing to sell.

What keeps us steady is people. In season we get up to 100 visitors a week, and many of them join our WhatsApp list. Those loyal customers buy durians whenever we have them, which makes that list one of our most reliable sources of income. We also supply durians for corporate events.

Short seasons are a different problem from drought. But the lesson matches what Sharon McInnis learned: your crop answers to the weather, while your guest list answers to you. If you're starting from zero, read How Small Farms Can Make Their First $1,000 From Visitors.

Questions to Ask Before You Open the Gate

This isn't legal, insurance or tax advice. Rules differ by state and council, so treat these as questions to take to your council, insurer and accountant.

Council and planning

Is my planned use allowed in my zone, and is it exempt, complying or a full development application? NSW simplified the rules from December 2022. For example, an exempt farm stay can have up to six buildings, exempt camping needs at least 15 hectares and is capped at 20 guests, and exempt farm experiences are limited to 50 visitors at a time on up to 52 days a year (farm tours and school groups are treated differently). The farm must be a commercial farm, not a hobby farm.
Is my land bush fire-prone? In NSW, that changes which approval path applies to a farm stay.

Insurance

Does my farm policy cover paying visitors, or do I need separate public liability? Business Victoria says A$10 million public liability is standard in tourism, and warns that home policies may not cover visitors.
Do I need product liability for food I sell, or business interruption cover for road closures and fire? My guide to agritourism insurance explains the main types.

Workers and safety

Do I need workers' compensation for casuals or family members who help with guests? The rules are set by each state.
Have I set no-go areas, taken the keys out of quad bikes, and kept guests away from dams and machinery? SafeWork NSW reminds farmers that they control a hazardous workplace, whoever is visiting.

Food, alcohol and biosecurity

Do I need to notify my council or the state food authority before I sell or serve food? Here's what can go wrong when food rules are skipped.
Do tastings or a shed door need a liquor licence?
Do I have a visitor register, one entry point, and parking away from stock and crops?

Money

Will guest income affect my primary production status for tax or land tax? Ask your accountant. In NSW, one way your land qualifies as a "commercial farm" for these approvals is being a primary production business for tax purposes.

Is There Government Help?

Some, but don't wait for a tourism grant. The federal Future Drought Fund reached A$5 billion in December 2024. Its Farm Business Resilience program offers subsidised training and planning that includes diversification options. NSW's agritourism planning changes were designed partly to make farms more resilient to the economic impacts of natural disasters and other unexpected events.

When South Australia wrote its agritourism sector plan, though, it noted there was no dedicated agritourism fund from state or federal government. Plan to fund your first guest income yourself, and start small. A written plan helps with the bank and the council. Use my free agritourism business plan template.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does drought-proofing a farm mean?

In Australia it usually means preparing for dry years: storing water, saving feed, protecting soil and setting safe stocking rates. More farmers now add a second layer: income that doesn't depend on rain, such as farm stays, tours and campsites.

Can agritourism replace farm income in a drought?

Sometimes, but don't plan on it. Flinders Bush Retreats became the McInnis family's main income through the 2017 to 2019 drought, and Mt Bundy Station earns half its income from tourism. For most farms, guest income is a cushion: it pays the rates, buys feed and helps avoid forced stock sales.

How much can a farm campsite earn in Australia?

It varies widely. Libby Rough's four unpowered campsites in Queensland brought in more than A$50,000 between August 2020 and early 2022. Booking platforms publish higher claims for their top hosts, so check what similar sites near you actually charge and how often they're booked before you build.

What's the cheapest way to start?

Use what you already have: empty quarters, an old cottage, or a flat paddock near water for a few unpowered campsites. Check council rules and insurance first, then test with a small number of bookings.

Is the $19 billion agritourism figure a government target?

No. It traces back to a 2019 CSIRO estimate that agri-related tourism could be worth around A$18.6 billion a year by 2030. It's an estimate of the opportunity, not a target or a prediction of what farms will earn.

Will visitors still come when my farm looks brown and dry?

Often, yes. Guests come for space, animals and farm life, and the McInnis family averaged about 86% occupancy in their open months in the middle of severe drought. But floods, fires and closed roads can still cancel bookings, so keep guest income as one leg of several.

Do I need special insurance to have visitors on my farm?

Usually. A standard farm or home policy may not cover paying guests. Ask your insurer about public liability, product liability and workers' compensation before your first booking, and get the answer in writing.

Your Next Step

The farms in this article didn't wait for rain. They looked at what they already had (a cottage, a river, a shearing shed) and found people willing to pay for it.

If you want 150 ideas like these, each with its difficulty, start-up cost, pricing and earning potential, get my free ebook.

Get the Free Ebook: 150 Ways to Unlock Hidden Wealth From Your Farm

Not sure which idea fits your farm? Take the free Farm Readiness Quiz and see which areas to work on first.

Take the Free Farm Readiness Quiz

P.S. Remember the McInnis family's rain gauge: 150 mm, then 100, then 78. Their first guest house opened in 2013, four years before the worst of it. When the dry years came, the income that kept them on the land was already running. Start yours while the grass is still green.

Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, insurance, tax or financial advice. Check with your own council, insurer and accountant before opening your farm to visitors.