The Iowa Agricultural Tourism Promotion Act defines an Agricultural tourism farm as a "farm to which members of the public are invited to visit by or on behalf of an agricultural tourism farmer or agricultural tourism professional, for the purpose of allowing members of the public to experience places on a farm and participate in farming activities, regardless of whether a member of the public pays for the visit".
-Iowa Agricultural Tourism Promotion Act
The National Agricultural Law Center says Agritourism can be defined as the crossroads of tourism and agriculture. Stated more technically, agritourism can be defined as a form of commercial enterprise that links agricultural production and/or processing with tourism to attract visitors onto a farm, ranch, or other agricultural business for the purposes of entertaining and/or educating the visitors while generating income for the farm, ranch, or business owner.
Regardless of the exact definition or terminology, any definition of agritourism should include the following four factors:
- combines the essential elements of the tourism and agriculture industries;
- attracts members of the public to visit agricultural operations;
- is designed to increase farm income; and
- provides recreation, entertainment, and/or educational experiences to visitors.
-The National Agricultural Law Center
