Wisconsin Agritourism's $765 Million Impact: How to Use the New Number With Your Banker, Your County Board and Your Family (and the One Mistake That Makes Them Stop Listening)

3 days ago

21 min read

Wisconsin farmer and banker reviewing an agritourism plan at a farmhouse table, with a busy pumpkin patch and corn maze outside

In the spring of 1994, Don Schuster planted one-third of an acre of pumpkins on a farm near Deerfield, Wisconsin. School tours started that same year. His wife, Theresa, talked him into building a hay wagon.

In late October 2026, Gov. Tony Evers joined farm leaders on that same farm as the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association (WATA) unveiled a first-of-its-kind economic impact study. The finding: a sample of 240 agritourism destinations drew more than 4.3 million visits in 2025 and generated an estimated $765 million in economic impact.

That is a big number. Used well, it can help open doors at the bank, at the county board and at your own kitchen table.

Used badly, it can make you look like you don't understand your own business. This guide shows you the difference.

The Short Answer:

WATA's study, released October 29, 2026, estimates that Wisconsin agritourism generated more than $765 million in economic impact in 2025, based on a sample of 240 destinations and more than 4.3 million visits. Visitors from 50+ miles away made 26.1% of visits but spent an average of $236 per visit, against $83 for local visitors. It is an impact estimate, not what farms earned. Use it as proof that the market is real, then back it up with your own farm's numbers.

From One-Third of an Acre to 70+ Attractions: Why the Study Started at Schuster's

The Schusters bought their farm in 1990. Theresa spotted a For Sale sign while driving to work, and three days later it was theirs.

Don had grown up on a hog, dairy and cash-crop farm in Sun Prairie, but that farm was being turned into houses. For about three years the couple tried different things, including growing tobacco and breeding pot-bellied pigs and miniature donkeys.

Then came the pumpkins. Don had grown pumpkins as a boy and sold them door-to-door from his little red wagon, and that one-third of an acre became the seed of everything that followed.

Today, according to the farm's own website, Schuster's Farm runs an 8-acre corn maze, 14 acres of pick-your-own pumpkins and more than 70 attractions. There is a haunted forest, a summer flower season called "Bloomin' Fun," school field trips, company outings and private events. A weekend Farm Fun Pass for ages 3 to 59 was listed at $16.50 online for fall 2026, and the farm's website says it is now in its 32nd season.

Sarah and her husband, Mitchell, now work on the farm full time.

That is the real story behind the $765 million: families who planted something small, counted who came and kept going. If you want to follow the same path, start with our guide on how to start a corn maze.

What the Wisconsin Agritourism Study Actually Found

Who was counted: a sample of 240 agricultural tourism destinations, which WATA describes as virtually all working family farms. It is a sample, not every farm in the state.
When: January 1 to December 31, 2025.
Visits: more than 4.3 million, from Wisconsin and beyond.
How visits were measured: Placer.ai foot-traffic data from geofenced areas, which estimates visits from mobile location signals.
How spending was estimated: from Wisconsin Department of Tourism and U.S. Department of Labor data.
What kinds of farms: pumpkin patches, corn mazes, flower farms, orchards, vineyards, Christmas tree farms and agricultural event venues.
Who paid for it: a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant.
Who else benefits: restaurants, lodging, retailers, gas stations and other tourism businesses.

"Now we have the hard numbers to show just how important agricultural tourism is," said Sheila Everhart, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, in WATA's press release.

The Most Useful Line in the Whole Study

Most coverage skipped past this. It should change how you plan.

Bar chart showing local Wisconsin agritourism visitors made 73.9% of visits and spent $83 per visit, while visitors from 50+ miles made 26.1% of visits and spent $236 — Visitors who traveled 50+ miles made about a quarter of visits but spent almost three times more per visit. Source: WATA, October 2026.

Local visitors, from under 50 miles away, made 73.9% of visits and spent an average of $83 per visit. WATA puts their contribution at about $295 million.

Visitors from more than 50 miles away made only 26.1% of visits. But they spent an average of $236 per visit, and WATA puts their contribution at about $307 million.

Read that again. By WATA's figures, about one visitor in four brought in more than the other three combined.

The Counties That Stood Out

The study calls the impact "a benefit felt by every county." Insight on Business reported three county visitor counts for 2025: Fond du Lac County with 500,000 agritourism visitors, Door County with 453,000 and Calumet County with 154,000.

The same report said Door and Fond du Lac also ranked in the top 10 for spending.

"It's pretty amazing that Calumet is named in the top 10," said Bonnie Keyes, owner of Mulberry Lane Farm in Hilbert, speaking to Insight on Business.

What WATA Is Asking For

The study ends with a call for "a modernized, strategic, state-level response to boost rural economic vitality." Along the way it makes three points:

Farmers and rural communities need policies that favor adapting and expanding agricultural tourism.
Cities, towns and counties should factor the findings into rural development plans, long-term plans and policies. WATA's media sheet adds local zoning policies to that list.
Other states are already encouraging agritourism. The study points to Montana, where a state Department of Commerce grant program awarded over $350,000 to 17 farms and tribal businesses in 2025. (See what your own state offers in our agritourism grants by state table.)

Why Wisconsin Needed This Number Now

The study also gives the backdrop. Wisconsin had 9,695 dairy farms ten years ago. By August 2026 it had 4,991, the first time the count fell below 5,000.

Nearly half of the state's dairy farms disappeared in a decade. WATA's media sheet calls agritourism "vital alternative revenue" for multi-generational farms. If your own farm is under pressure, read what the farms that survived the 2026 bankruptcy wave did differently.

What $765 Million Is, and What It Is Not

This is where most farmers get caught out. So let's slow down.

An "economic impact" number is not a sales number. It tries to measure how visitor money ripples through the whole economy. Economists usually split that ripple into three parts.

Direct effect: what visitors spend. Some of it is at your gate, on tickets, pumpkins and cider donuts. Much of it is in town, at the diner, the gas station and the hotel.
Indirect effect: the businesses that sold to the farm or the diner restock, buy supplies and hire.
Induced effect: the people who earned wages from all of that go out and spend their paychecks.

Add the three together and you get "total economic impact." The ratio of total to direct is called a multiplier. WATA says it applied a statewide average multiplier of 1.42, plus county multipliers.

Diagram showing direct, indirect and induced effects nested inside Wisconsin's $765 million agritourism economic impact, with farm revenue as only the on-farm slice of direct spending — Farm revenue is only one slice of an economic impact estimate. Diagram: AgritourismSuccess.com.

Why the Off-Farm Money Matters So Much

Other states show how big the off-farm slice can be. Virginia's 2017 agritourism study found that 83% of visitor spending happened off the farm.

Tennessee's 2023 study went the other way and counted only on-farm spending. It found $65.09 million in direct on-farm visitor spending grew to about $118.5 million in total output once the ripple was added.

So the same visitors can produce very different headlines, depending on what each study counts.

"Fresh Money" Is the Part Your County Cares About

Mississippi State University Extension makes a simple point in its guide to tourism events. When you estimate impact, count only non-local visitors whose trip was caused by your attraction. Local people would probably have spent that money in the area anyway.

That is why the 26.1% of visitors from 50+ miles matter so much. Their $236 per visit is mostly new money arriving in a rural county. Virginia's study used the same logic and called it "fresh money."

Reality Check:

WATA published its summary figures (the $765M impact, a $602M "direct spend," an 85% "capture rate" and a 1.42 average multiplier) with very little method detail. The study doesn't show the formula, describe how the 240 destinations were chosen or name the economic model. It reports no jobs or tax figures. That doesn't make it useless. It means you quote it exactly: "an estimated $765 million economic impact from a sample of 240 destinations." Never call it what Wisconsin farms earned, and never call it a statewide total. A sharp lender or county supervisor may try to rebuild the math. If you can't explain how the pieces fit, you lose more trust than the number gains you. Say what it is and where it came from, then move to your own figures.

The Bigger Picture: How Wisconsin Compares With Other States and Countries

The USDA Census of Agriculture counts something different. It asks farms how much they actually received from "agritourism and recreational services," such as hunting, fishing, and farm or wine tours.

In 2022, 28,617 U.S. farms reported $1.26 billion in agritourism receipts, according to Penn State's analysis of the Census. That is an average of $44,004 per farm. In 2017, the total was $949.3 million. USDA's Economic Research Service says the 2022 figure was up 12.4% after adjusting for inflation.

For the full national breakdown, see our agritourism statistics guide.

Correcting a Common Mix-Up: "$949 Million in 2017" Was Never Wisconsin's

You may have seen it written that Wisconsin agritourism produced $949 million in 2017. A 2023 news story about Wisconsin's agricultural tourism presented it that way.

It almost certainly wasn't Wisconsin. $949.3 million was the total agritourism receipts for the whole United States in the 2017 Census, while Wisconsin farms reported about $19.9 million. If you repeat it as a Wisconsin figure in front of a lender, and they check, the rest of your plan loses credibility.

What Wisconsin Farms Themselves Reported

In the 2022 Census, about 666 Wisconsin farms reported income from agritourism and recreational services, totaling $20.77 million. WATA's study cites the figure as 660 farms. In 2017, it was 630 farms and $19.88 million.

That works out to roughly $31,000 per reporting farm on average in 2022, by our arithmetic.

Bar charts comparing USDA Census agritourism receipts: US $949.3 million in 2017 and $1.26 billion in 2022; Wisconsin $19.9 million in 2017 and $20.8 million in 2022 — Census receipts measure what farms reported earning on the farm. They are a different yardstick from WATA's impact estimate.

Do not set $20.8 million beside $765 million and call it growth. One is money farms reported receiving. The other is an estimate of total economic ripple from a sample. They measure different things.

But here's the opportunity hiding in that gap. Only about 666 of Wisconsin's 58,521 farms reported any agritourism income in 2022. That is a little over 1%.

Agritourism Studies Around the World, Side by Side

Every region measures this differently. Here is what each study actually counts.

Place	Study (published)	Data year	What it measures	Headline figure
Wisconsin	WATA (Oct 2026)	2025	Estimated economic impact, sample of 240 destinations	$765M+; 4.3M+ visits
Oregon, Willamette Valley	Oregon State University Extension (Feb 2024)	2023 survey	Direct agritourism sales, 9 counties	$985M+ direct sales; about 9,000 on-farm jobs
Virginia	Magnini, Calvert and Walker (2017)	2015	Total output, including off-farm spending	About $2.2B; 83% of visitor spending off the farm
Tennessee	Tennessee State University (2023)	2019–20 survey	On-farm spending plus ripple effect	$65.09M direct, about $118.5M total output
Michigan	USDA Census, via Penn State (2024)	2022	On-farm receipts	$56.6M
United States	USDA Census, via Penn State (2024)	2022	On-farm receipts	$1.26B from 28,617 farms
Ontario, Canada	Agritourism Ontario (2025)	Not stated	Economic output, GDP and jobs	C$633M output; 8,700+ jobs
Scotland	VisitScotland Agritourism Growth Tracker (Apr 2026)	2025 survey	Sector value from operator survey	£292.9M; 888 businesses
England	Defra Farm Business Survey (2024/25)	2024/25	Average diversified income per diversifying farm	72% of farms diversified; £31,100 average

The lesson for you: when you quote any of these, say what it measures. "Sales," "output," "impact" and "receipts" are four different words for four different things.

Not sure where your own farm stands yet? Take our free Farm Readiness Quiz. It takes a few minutes and shows you which gaps to close before you talk to anyone about money.

Take the Farm Readiness Quiz

Which Number to Show to Whom

One study. Three very different audiences. Each one is asking a different question.

Flowchart showing which agritourism numbers to show a lender, a county board and your family — Your lender, county board and family each ask a different question. Show each one the number that answers it.

How to Use the Number With Your Lender

Your banker isn't lending to Wisconsin. They're lending to you.

GreenStone Farm Credit Services explains what lenders weigh with the "five Cs of credit."

Character: your background, your goals and your track record. GreenStone suggests inviting the loan officer out to the farm.
Capital: your balance sheet. Do your assets outweigh your debts?
Capacity: can you repay old and new debt? Projections under several scenarios help most.
Collateral: a second way to repay if things go wrong.
Conditions: the loan terms that keep you and the lender accountable, such as a yearly balance sheet requirement.

A state study helps with only one part of this. It shows the market exists. It doesn't prove your farm can repay.

What Agritourism Lenders Ask For

Horizon Farm Credit lists what it wants to see for an agritourism loan: a business plan with construction or renovation estimates, your past farm financials, projected agritourism revenue, cash flow that holds up in the off-season, market research showing demand, zoning and permit approvals, insurance, collateral and every income stream listed.

Notice "market research showing demand." That is the one slot where the WATA number belongs.

Our agritourism business plan template walks you through all 14 sections a lender expects.

What Changes in Canada and the UK

The rules differ, but bankers think alike.

USA, FSA loans: USDA's Farm Service Agency lends to farmers who are unable to get credit elsewhere at reasonable rates and terms. Its loan fact sheet says nothing specific about agritourism, so ask your local office.
Canada: FCC's Colin Brisebois told The Western Producer in 2026 that FCC can offer nearly any financing if the business plan is built and makes sense. He said an FCC program allows interest-only payments for the first three to five years.
UK: Euryn Jones of HSBC UK told Farmers Weekly in 2023 that banks look at integrity, capability, realism and track record. They want cash-flow forecasts, breakeven figures and "what if" testing. The same article advises having every permission in place, with planning the main one.

A Market Evidence Paragraph You Can Adapt

Here is one way to put the state number to work in your plan, without overselling it.

Field-Tested Play:

Paste a paragraph like this into the "Market" section of your plan, then fill the blanks with your own figures:

"A 2026 study by the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association estimated that a sample of 240 Wisconsin agritourism destinations generated more than $765 million in economic impact and drew more than 4.3 million visits in 2025. The same study found visitors traveling 50+ miles spent an average of $236 per visit. Our farm is [X] miles from [nearest city]. Last fall we ran a [two-weekend pumpkin trial] and recorded [X] paid visits, [X]% of them from 50+ miles by zip code, spending an average of $[X] on the farm. The projections below are built on our own numbers, not the state figure."

Notice the order: state proof first, your own proof second, and an honest line about which one your projections rely on.

Don't Let the State Number Hide a Funding Gap

Penn State's national survey of 2,139 agritourism operators, published in 2025, found that financial capital was the hardest challenge. 43% rated it very or extremely challenging.

Two-thirds (66.4%) received no grants or loans at all in 2023, and only 5.4% received a loan. Before you borrow, check what free money you may be missing in our guide to agritourism grants and funding.

How to Use the Number With Your County Board

This is where the WATA study may help you most.

WATA's media summary sheet says cities, towns and counties can use the findings for economic development, long-term planning and local zoning policies. That is the association telling local officials, in writing, that this sector belongs in their plans.

A Wisconsin County That Already Did It

In April 2023, Green County's Board of Supervisors approved the final zoning changes needed for farmers to host agricultural tourism events on their land, according to the Monroe Times.

The local case was made in dollars. The paper reported that an average on-farm, non-commercial venue wedding generates $3,000 to $5,000 in rental income for the farm and roughly $22,500 per event for surrounding rural businesses.

Under the new rules, roadside farm stands, wineries, breweries and distilleries need no permit. Agricultural entertainment and seasonal event centers need a conditional use permit. The county also updated its sanitation code to allow holding tanks and portable restrooms.

That is exactly the kind of local, per-event number that moves a board. Read more in our guide to farm wedding venue zoning.

Planners Want to Say Yes When It Fits Their Plan

In Iowa, Linn County's supervisors unanimously approved a two-tier agritourism ordinance in November 2023. Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols said these uses "hit on a lot of our comprehensive plan goals."

That is your angle. Don't just ask for permission. Show how your project helps the county's own written goals.

But Boards Also Hear From Neighbors

Not every hearing goes well. NACo's County News reported in 2024 that Skagit County, Washington, drew about 200 people to a planning hearing, declared a moratorium on new events in agricultural areas and began working on a plan to cut events to 12 a year.

Counties worry about traffic, noise, barn fire codes and businesses with a weak link to farming. A state number answers none of those. Your parking plan, hours and safety plan will. Put them on paper with our agritourism risk management plan.

Oregon State University Extension calls your property's zoning "the most critical variable to research." Its advice is blunt: "Allow at least six months of lead time for this permitting process."

Questions to Ask Before the Meeting

This isn't legal advice. It's a checklist of questions to take to your zoning office and your own attorney.

Is my activity a permitted use, an accessory use or a conditional use in my zoning district?
Has any farm near me already been permitted for something similar? (Precedent helps.)
Does the county's comprehensive plan mention agritourism, rural tourism or farm diversification?
What will the board ask about parking, traffic, noise, toilets and hours?
In Wisconsin, am I posting the warning sign that Wis. Stat. § 895.524 makes a condition of its liability protection? The protection applies only if, among other conditions, the sign is posted in black letters at least one inch high on a white background, at each entrance to the property or at each activity location. It also doesn't cover willful or wanton disregard for safety, or intentional harm. Our agritourism laws by state guide covers the exact wording.

For the full list of permits and paperwork, see agritourism requirements.

If You Farm Outside the US

The bodies have different names, but the meeting feels the same.

Canada: your township or municipality handles zoning. Agritourism Ontario's 2025 study recommended cutting regulatory barriers to on-farm diversified uses and better teamwork between municipalities and operators.
UK: your local planning authority decides. The NFU has asked for planning rules that are "flexible and sufficiently positive" for rural tourism.

In both places, a credible regional study plus your own local figures beats either one alone.

How to Use the Number at the Kitchen Table

The hardest meeting isn't always at the bank. Sometimes it's with your spouse, your parents or the sibling who wants to sell.

WATA itself began with five farmers around a kitchen table, according to its media sheet. So this is the right place to have the talk.

Families worry about risk, debt, strangers on the land and who will do the work. They also worry about whether there will be a farm left for the next generation.

You're not alone. In a Texas study by Barbieri and Mahoney, 83.7% of farmers and ranchers who diversified said they did it to generate additional income. About 47% wanted to keep the farm in the family.

Show Them the $236 Visitor

Don't lead with $765 million. Lead with the split.

Visitors from 50+ miles away spent $236 per visit in Wisconsin. Locals spent $83. A national study by Hollas and colleagues, published in 2021 with 1,834 operators, found a significant, though relatively weak, link between higher profitability and a higher share of visitors from 50 or more miles away.

So the family question isn't "Can we get the whole county to visit?" It's "Can we give a family a reason to drive an hour and stay all day?" Our agritourism marketing guide ranks the channels that reach those visitors.

Then Show Them the Honest Range

Your family deserves the real picture, not just the good news.

Penn State's national operator survey found 32.1% of operators had no profit or a loss from agritourism in 2023. Another 46.3% made between $1,000 and $99,999. Just 11.0% made more than $100,000.
A separate 2026 national study from the University of Vermont found agritourism was a median 36% of farm gross revenue among those who answered. Their average profit ratio was 48% on agritourism against 28% for the whole farm, though the authors call these rough estimates.

So yes, it can work. No, it doesn't always pay right away. Our honest look at whether agritourism is worth it in 2026 lays out both sides.

A Wisconsin Family That Built It Step by Step

Bonnie and Patrick Keyes opened Mulberry Lane Farm in Hilbert in October 2005. Five hundred families came in the first month.

When the 2009 recession cut school field-trip budgets, they added events. Their first wedding followed in 2010.

"On a good day in the fall, we might have 2,000 people here," Bonnie Keyes told The Business News in 2023.

They didn't start there. They grew there. Kuipers Family Farm has a similar story, a concrete contractor's weekend pumpkin patch that grew one season at a time.

Field-Tested Play:

Bring one sheet of paper to the family meeting with just three things on it. One: the $236 versus $83 split. Two: the honest profit range above. Three: a small, low-cost test for one season, with a clear "stop" rule agreed in advance (for example, "if we don't cover costs by the second year, we stop"). A test with a stop rule feels far less risky than "let's bet the farm on tourism."

If the bigger worry is who takes over, start there first. Use our seven questions for the farm succession conversation, and if siblings disagree, read when siblings inherit the family farm but not the vision.

Build Your Own Local Impact Number in 6 Steps

A state number gets you in the door. Your own number gets you the loan, the permit and the family's blessing.

Six-step process to build your own local agritourism economic impact number: count visits, ask zip codes, total on-farm spend, survey off-farm spend, keep farm revenue and community spending apart, label any multiplier — A simple six-step method any visitor farm can run in one season.

This method draws on Mississippi State University Extension's guide to tourism events and the University of Minnesota Extension's 2026 guide to festival impact.

Count every visit. Use tickets, till records, a gate clicker, or cars multiplied by average party size.
Ask the zip code or postcode. Ask at the till or on your booking form, then split visitors into under 50 miles and 50+ miles.
Total your on-farm spending per visit. Divide your visitor sales by your visits.
Survey off-farm spending. Ask a sample of visitors what they spent nearby on food, fuel and lodging. The University of Minnesota suggests about 400 surveys, depending on event size, spread across different days and times.
Keep two lines apart. Farm revenue is one line. Money visitors spent in your community is another. Never blend them.
Label any multiplier. Say exactly where it came from, and show your number before and after.

A Fill-In Example (Hypothetical Round Numbers)

These figures are made up to show the method. They are not from any real farm.

Line	How you get it	Example only
Paid visits in the season	Ticket or till count	10,000
Share from 50+ miles	Zip code or postcode question	30% (3,000 visits)
Average on-farm spend per visit	Visitor sales ÷ visits	$20
A. Farm revenue	Visits × on-farm spend	$200,000
Average off-farm spend, 50+ mile visitors	Short visitor survey	$60
B. New outside money into the community	3,000 × ($20 + $60)	$240,000
C. With a multiplier, clearly labeled	B × 1.42 (WATA's published statewide average, used here only as an illustration)	About $340,800

Line A goes to your lender, along with your costs and cash flow. Line B goes to your county board, because it is the "fresh money" your farm brings in. Line C only appears with its label and its source, never on its own.

Reality Check:

Revenue isn't profit. Line A is what came in, not what you kept. Your lender will subtract labor, insurance, parking, toilets, marketing and repayments. And if you want a county-specific multiplier rather than a state average, ask your extension office or a university economist.

Your Own Proof File: What I Learned at Bloopy Durians

I'm Stephen Loke, founder of Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Bentong, Malaysia. Our proof never came from a state study. We built our own, one season at a time.

Our durian seasons add up to only about four to five months a year. So every visit has to count.

Here is what's in our proof file today:

Visitors from all over the world.
Many companies sending their staff and management to the farm.
Durians supplied for corporate events.
Durians supplied for a Mayor of Kuala Lumpur tourism event. Kuala Lumpur City Hall gave our team a plaque of appreciation for helping.
A WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy every season.
Media coverage: the farm has been featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun.

Our farm tour runs about an hour and a half. Guests ride in a four-wheel-drive and taste durians.

Here is the lesson. A state number is borrowed proof. A plaque, a press clipping, a list of repeat buyers and a record of where your guests came from are owned proof. When you sit across from a banker or a board, owned proof wins.

So start your proof file today. Even a notebook of zip codes from your first weekend is a start.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is agritourism worth to Wisconsin's economy?

The Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association's October 2026 study estimates more than $765 million in economic impact in 2025, from a sample of 240 destinations that drew more than 4.3 million visits. It is an estimate of total economic ripple, not a full count of every farm in the state.

Is the $765 million what Wisconsin farms earned?

No. It includes visitor spending off the farm, at restaurants, gas stations, hotels and shops, plus the ripple effect. What Wisconsin farms reported earning from agritourism in the 2022 Census was about $20.77 million, across about 666 farms.

How many Wisconsin farms do agritourism?

About 666 Wisconsin farms reported agritourism and recreational services income in the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture. WATA's study cites 660. That is roughly 1% of the state's 58,521 farms.

Was Wisconsin agritourism worth $949 million in 2017?

Almost certainly not. $949.3 million was the total agritourism receipts for the whole United States in the 2017 Census. Wisconsin farms reported about $19.9 million that year. By 2022 the national total had grown to $1.26 billion, across 28,617 farms.

Can I use the Wisconsin study if my farm is in another state, Canada or the UK?

Yes, as evidence that people pay to visit working farms and that visitors from farther away spend more. But your lender or council will trust a study from your own region, plus your own visitor numbers, far more. The table above lists studies from Oregon, Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan, Ontario, Scotland and England.

What do lenders want to see for an agritourism loan?

Expect to show a business plan, past farm financials, projected agritourism revenue, off-season cash flow, market research, permits, insurance and collateral. Lenders weigh the five Cs of credit: character, capital, capacity, collateral and conditions.

Do I need county approval to start agritourism in Wisconsin?

It depends on your activity and your zoning district. In Green County, for example, roadside farm stands need no permit, while agricultural entertainment and seasonal event centers need a conditional use permit. Ask your county zoning office before you spend money. Also check the agritourism warning-sign rules in Wis. Stat. § 895.524.

Your Next Step

The $765 million tells the world that farm visitors matter. Your own numbers tell your banker, your board and your family that your farm can make it work.

Find out where your farm stands today:

Take the Farm Readiness Quiz

Then grab the free ebook. 150 Ways to Unlock Hidden Wealth From Your Farm gives you 150 practical ideas for turning the land, buildings and skills you already have into new income, so you can pick the ones that suit your farm before you spend a dollar.

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

P.S. Don Schuster didn't start with a $765 million study. He started with one-third of an acre of pumpkins and a hay wagon his wife talked him into building. More than three decades later, the governor joined farm leaders there as WATA unveiled its study. Your first one-third of an acre might be this season's test. Count who comes.

Written by Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, tax, insurance or lending advice.