The Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website offers these examples of ways to enter the agritourism market:
Overnight stays: Lodging and camping

  • Bed and breakfast
  • Camp sites
  • Youth camp
  • Farm vacation (farm stays, feeding animals, picking fruit/vegetables)
  • Rental cabin for day trips/picnics
  • Weddings, receptions, honeymoons


Special events and festivals

  • Music festivals
  • Haunted house, haunted hay ride
  • Holiday celebrations
  • Harvest festivals

Recreation activities and events

  • Fee fishing
  • Skeet shooting
  • Canoe livery
  • Biking
  • Corn maze
  • Horseback riding
  • 3-D archery course fee hunting
  • Bird watching
  • Hiking
  • Hang gliding
  • Hot air balloon rides
  • Rock climbing/rappelling
  • Cross country skiing

Fresh products and value-added products
Tourism-enhanced direct marketing

  • Pick your own fruit/vegetables
  • Sell canned foods on farm: apple butter, relishes, wine, honey, jams and jellies
  • Sell herbal/organic products: candles, salves, tinctures, potpourri, wool, handmade sweaters

Youth and/or adult education

  • Organized tours: school groups, senior groups, church groups, tour groups
  • Agricultural education programs: how to grow apples, how to care for cattle
  • Nature education programs: wildlife, trees
  • Demonstrations: goat cheese making, wine making, honey making, apple butter making, heritage crafts

For more information visit http://ext.vt.edu/agriculture.html.