Agritourism Business Plan: Tours, Field Trips, Events, Stays

Agritourism sells the farm itself: school field trips, weekend tours, private events like weddings in the barn, and farm stays in a cabin. Each one costs little per visitor in supplies and staff time; what it costs is the work to make the farm ready for people, restrooms, parking and safe paths, and liability insurance. Many states have agritourism laws that limit a farm's liability for the risks of farming if it posts the warning signs the law sets out. The plan turns on bookings, the barn and the season. In the example, a Pennsylvania farm opening to visitors starts with $109,000, ends its first year about $54,900 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $8,000 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the farm in a paragraph: what visitors do, who comes, the goals.
• Cost each visit: supplies, staff time, cleaning, the card fee.
• Plan sales by product: field trips, tours, private events, farm stays.
• Restrooms, parking and safe paths are startup costs.
• Check your state's agritourism law and post its warning signs.
• Events bring the most per booking; field trips fill weekdays in spring and fall.
• TaroStack keeps the farm store counted and every sale on record. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Willow Bend Farm, a made-up diversified farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, writes:

Willow Bend Farm is a diversified farm in Lancaster County that opens to visitors: spring and fall school field trips, Saturday farm tours, private events in a restored bank barn, and two cabins for farm stays, with a farm store selling its own produce, eggs and jam. In its first year it aims to average $16,600 a month in visitor sales.

Part 2: what a visit costs

Schools pay by invoice, so field trips carry no card fee. Events are rented with tables, chairs and the barn; catering is the couple's. The farm's own products sold to visitors are in farm store business plan.

Part 3: visitors, the season and the law

Field trips run weekdays in May, September and October; tours are Saturdays from spring to fall; events are booked a year ahead for summer and fall weekends; the cabins rent year-round. The farm carries liability insurance written for agritourism and posts the warning signs Pennsylvania's agritourism law calls for at each entrance. Other farms that sell a visit are in pumpkin patch business plan and u pick farm business plan.

Part 4: what each product earns

At full speed the business sells $16,600 a month and keeps $12,550, 75.6%; private events bring $5,200 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $4,600 every month: staff wages ($2,500), grounds and barn upkeep ($800), liability insurance ($400), ads and website ($400), utilities ($200), and other costs ($300). Sales start at 35% of full speed:

The year's sales are $145,615, and the business ends it $54,852 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $6,080 of sales a month, in the first month. The lowest cash point, $572 in month 1, never goes below zero. Visitors come in seasons, events in summer and fall, field trips in spring and fall; the plan spreads them as monthly averages, and a real January is mostly the cabins.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $94,000 before working cash is earned back in about 12 months at full speed. Pricing the farm store's goods is in farm stand prices.

Get the template

Download the agritourism business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products, each with its price, variable cost and units a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan uses one booking count. A rainy October cancels field trips, a wedding moves its date, and the farm store's jam runs out on the busiest Saturday.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the farm store counted and every sale on record, so a busy Saturday doesn't empty the shelves unseen.

The farm store counted. Produce, eggs and jam are counted on a phone with no signal, and what runs short shows in days of cover.

Each batch a lot. The farm's own jam and baked goods are batches with lots and dates, sold oldest first.

Sales by customer. Event and stay bookings can be sales orders to each customer, alongside the store's sales.

Counts, lots and sales orders are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much does it cost to start an agritourism business?

The example budgets $109,000, including $15,000 of working cash; restoring the barn for events is the biggest item.

Is an agritourism business profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $8,000 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, and ends its first year ahead.

What agritourism activities make the most money?

In the example, private events: each brings about $2,600 after its costs.

Do I need special insurance for agritourism?

Liability insurance written for visitors on a working farm; many states also limit liability under an agritourism law if the farm posts its warning signs.