Australia Is Spending Nearly $8 Million to Test Regenerative Farming. The Farms Already Doing It Are Charging Visitors to Watch.
On Saturday 24 January 2026, visitors to a 65-hectare farm in Rosa Brook, Western Australia, paid A$33 per adult and A$14 per child (plus GST and booking fee) for a two-hour regenerative farm tour with Lawson Armstrong and Laura Bailey of Margaret River Organic Farmer.
Nobody came to buy a tonne of anything. They came to see how a regenerative farm works: collecting eggs from the hens' mobile caravan, meeting the cattle, hearing how the farm says it has doubled its soil organic carbon, and finishing at the farm shop.
Here is the short version of this article. Regenerative and soil-health farming is now a story city people pay to see. If you farm this way, or are switching over, you can turn your method into paid farm walks, field days, workshops and school trips, and earn money from your paddocks even in a year when the rain does not come.
The short answer Australia's national science agency has just launched a nearly A$8 million, five-year trial of regenerative grain practices to help grain growers cope with a more volatile, drought-prone climate. While the scientists collect data, regenerative farms and field-day organisers are already charging A$15 to A$395 for people to walk paddocks, and many tours finish at a farm shop. |
The news in 60 seconds
On 13 October 2026, CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, announced the Stress Testing Regenerative Agriculture Practices project, called STRAP for short.
It is a five-year trial for grain growers in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The trials test intercropping, legumes as a natural source of nitrogen, alternative fertilisers and bringing pasture back into cropping paddocks.
The money is almost A$8 million from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund, which puts A$100 million a year into drought resilience. Local farming systems groups asked the questions, and Ag Excellence Alliance pulled them together so the trials could run at scale.
Project lead Dr Mark Farrell put the goal simply: redesign farming for a future with less water, less nitrogen and more stress. He also warned that copying European practices into Australia's dry, old soils is "just flat out wrong". The evidence has to come from local paddocks.
From the air, CSIRO says, a STRAP trial site looks like a patchwork, with each plot a different experiment. Hold on to that picture. It matters later.
Why every farmer should care: the weather is already taking your profit
This is not a future problem. In December 2019, the government's own farm economists at ABARES worked out what changes in climate since 2000 had already cost Australian farms.
ABARES estimated the average broadacre farm lost about 22% of its yearly profit, roughly A$18,600. The average cropping farm lost about 35%, around A$70,900 a year. Grain growers took the hardest hit, which is exactly why the STRAP trials focus on them.
If you have read our story on how paying guests carried six family farms through drought, you know the pattern. When your whole income depends on rain falling in the right month, you are one dry season away from trouble. Visitor income does not depend on whether it rained in June.
The part nobody is talking about: trial plots make a great show
That patchwork is exactly the kind of thing visitors could pay to stand in on your own farm. Strips of different crops side by side. A soil pit you can climb into. A plot that stayed green and one that did not. To a farmer it is data. To a family from the city, it is the most interesting field they have ever seen.
The demand is real and it is measured:
Tourism Research Australia counted about 3.3 million trips in 2024 that included a farm visit, worth about A$4.2 billion. 57% of those trips were made by travellers aged 44 or under.
Australian Regional Tourism's national agritourism strategy framework aims to grow farm and farm-gate visitor spending from A$7.4 billion to A$18.6 billion by 2030.
In the United States, farms earned US$1.26 billion from agritourism and recreation in 2022, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture. Our agritourism statistics guide breaks down who earns it.
A 2026 Kiss the Ground survey of more than 2,000 US adults found 52% say knowing where their food comes from is very or extremely important. Yet 45% said they don't buy regenerative products more often because they don't know enough about them.
Read that last line again. Nearly half say the barrier is knowledge. Only 12% blame price. A 90-minute farm walk is built to close exactly that gap, with your produce on the table at the end.
Proof: what regenerative farms charge right now
These are real prices from the farms' and organisers' own booking pages and event listings, checked in October 2026 (some of the 2026 dates have already passed).
Farm or event | What visitors buy | Price |
Margaret River Organic Farmer, WA, Australia | 2-hour regenerative farm tour (Jan 2026) | A$33 adult, A$14 child (plus GST and booking fee) |
Wilmot Field Day, NSW, Australia | Regenerative field day for farmers (March 2026) | A$395 per ticket |
Mulloon Institute, NSW, Australia | Intro landscape rehydration field day, with lunch | A$15 |
Polyface Farm, Virginia, USA | 2.5-hour "Lunatic Tour" on a hay wagon | $25 adult, under-12s free |
Polyface Farm, Virginia, USA | 2-hour private tour | $300 per group |
White Oak Pastures, Georgia, USA | Saturday walking tour | $15 per person |
White Oak Pastures, Georgia, USA | Workshops, from turkey field day to butchery | $45 to $895 |
FarmED, Oxfordshire, UK | Intro to Regenerative Agriculture day course with lunch | £70 to £100 |
Look at the range. A$15 for a low-cost community field day. US$895 for a hands-on butchery course. Somewhere in between is a price that fits your farm, your visitors and your time.
The biggest names show where this can go. Polyface was drawing more than 8,000 visitors a year back in 2008. White Oak Pastures in Georgia now runs cabins from US$89 a night, a General Store in Bluffton serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and a full calendar of workshops; we unpacked how in our White Oak Pastures case study. In the UK, the Groundswell regenerative festival on a Hertfordshire farm passed 10,000 visitors in 2025.
One farming method, four paid products
1. The paid farm walk
This is your entry product. One to two hours, small groups, families and food lovers. Margaret River Organic Farmer's A$33 adult ticket is a good benchmark. Keep it short; we explain why in how long a farm tour should be.
Field-Tested Play Sell the walk as a soil walk, not a farm tour. "Dig a soil pit with a regenerative farmer" sounds like an experience. "Farm tour" sounds like a lecture. |
2. The paid field day
Here is the surprise: other farmers can be some of your best-paying customers. Wilmot Field Day in New South Wales sells tickets at A$395 and draws a few hundred people a year, because farmers will pay to learn from someone who has already made the switch.
If you are part of a farming systems group, like the ones running STRAP trials, you already have the paddocks, the data and the audience.
3. The hands-on workshop
Soil testing, composting, cover crops for the home garden, sourdough from your own grain. Home gardeners love this. White Oak Pastures charges US$45 to US$895 depending on depth. Our guide to hosting farming skills workshops covers the set-up.
4. The school trip
Soil, water, plants and climate fit straight into science lessons. Schools usually pay per student, often book months ahead and, if the day goes well, can come back year after year. See the farm experiences schools happily pay for.
Field-Tested Play Every one of these products should end at a table where people can buy. Flour, eggs, a meat box, a jar of honey, or a booking for next season. Our list of upsells that double your revenue has more ideas. |
The 90-minute soil walk you can run this season
You do not need a visitor centre. You need a safety talk, a spade, a tin can for a water infiltration test, a tasting table and a way to take payment. If you want to test demand before spending anything, start with a 60-minute trial run.
Price it on the experience, not your costs. If you're unsure, read the experience premium.
Reality Check Don't oversell the science. Dr Farrell's whole point is that regenerative practices must be proven in local conditions. Show visitors what you have measured on your own farm, say what you are still testing, and never promise that your methods "drought-proof" anything. Honesty is part of what people are paying for. |
What I learned on my own farm
On my durian farm, Bloopy Durians, in Bentong, Malaysia, I learned that people do not just want the fruit. They want to see where it grows and hear how it is grown. Visitors from all over the world come to walk the orchard, and companies send their staff and management for the experience.
Taylor's University and TAR UMT have each sent a busload of students. And many of those visitors join our WhatsApp list and buy durians every season. The visit is what turns a stranger into a loyal customer.
Your soil story can do the same thing for your farm.
Paperwork: questions to ask before the first paid visitor
This is not legal advice. These are the questions to take to your insurer, council and adviser:
Does my farm liability policy cover paying members of the public, or do I need an agritourism policy? Start with what coverage you need.
Will a signed waiver help, and what won't it cover? Read do liability waivers protect your farm.
Do I need a food permit for the tasting table?
For school groups, does my state require a working with children check?
Is a soil pit safe to stand in, and how will I fence it when it is not in use?
Frequently asked questions
What is a regenerative farm tour?
It is a paid visit where you show guests how regenerative practices work on your farm, such as soil health, cover crops, intercropping and grazing, usually with hands-on activities and food.
How much can I charge for a regenerative farm walk?
Real examples in 2026 run from A$15 for a low-cost community field day to A$33 for a 2-hour family tour, and A$395 for a ticket to a big regenerative field day for farmers.
Do I need to be fully regenerative to run a farm walk?
No. Visitors find the change itself interesting. Show the trial strips, explain why you are trying them, and be honest about results.
What is the CSIRO STRAP project?
A five-year CSIRO-led trial of regenerative grain practices in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, funded by almost A$8 million from the Future Drought Fund.
Will visitor income protect my farm in a drought?
It will not replace a crop, but it gives you income that does not depend on rainfall. Several Australian farms used guests to get through dry years; see our drought-proofing story.
Who pays for regenerative farm experiences?
Families, food lovers, home gardeners, schools and, at the top end, other farmers who want to learn from you.
Your next step
The scientists will spend five years measuring what works. You can start earning from your paddocks this season.
Find out if your farm is ready for paying visitors, then grab 150 more ways to turn what you already own into income.
P.S. Margaret River Organic Farmer charges A$33 a head for a two-hour walk where the stars are hens, cattle and soil. Not a theme park, not a petting zoo. If you are already building your soil, you already have something people will pay to see.
Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, insurance or financial advice.
Sources
CSIRO: Farmers put regenerative agriculture to the test (13 Oct 2026)
Minister for Agriculture: Future Drought Fund long-term trials
The Conversation: ABARES study, changes in climate since 2000 have cut farm profits 22%
Australian Regional Tourism: Agritourism 2030 National Agritourism Strategy Framework
Humanitix: Margaret River Organic Farmer regenerative farm tour
Farm Weekly: Living a farming dream (Margaret River Organic Farmer)
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