Queensland leads Australia in agritourism growth and diversity, driving innovation to contribute to thriving, prosperous rural communities.
Over the next four years, Agritourism Queensland will maintain a cohesive and powerful advocacy voice, working together with the government of the day to drive impactful policies and initiatives that support a robust future for agritourism in Queensland.
Agritourism Queensland proposes 4 strategic priorities that must be considered for the 2024 state election.
The 2032 Olympics presents an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in farm life, discover the true taste of farm fresh produce, and showcase the unique beauty, character & stories of our diverse regions. In the history of the Olympics, we’ve never seen such opportunity to connect visitors from around the world with farmers, food, and rural storytelling. Building the capacity of farmers and rural communities to develop and deliver exceptional and unforgettable experiences is key to success.
Election Commitment: Funding for AQ to partner with training organisations to facilitate and deliver business development, business planning, resilience planning and development.
The challenges faced by farmers seeking to diversify with agritourism are complex and significant, the greatest of these being Planning and Land Use constraints. The current planning system is not agile when it comes to the consideration of alternative uses such as agritourism and farm value adding in a contemporary and practical way to create pathways for resilient farm businesses.
Election Commitment: Interdepartmental support and implementation of planning and land use reform in line with the Planning for Agritourism Guide as a priority. Legislative change to recognise agritourism as a defined land use.
Value-adding on-farm creates opportunities for farmers to better manage fluctuating market prices and build resilience to withstand challenging times. Developing connections directly with customers and sharing the story of food production increases the perceived value of farm produce. This model creates an awareness around the importance of agriculture and helps maintain social licence. On-farm production is currently a challenging space within which to operate, lacking the support, training, and resources to allow the sector to thrive. The regulatory process is designed for large processors and is inconsistent with the type of value-adding production that occurs on-farm.
Election Commitment: Departmental support to begin a process of reform to reduce regulatory burden and increase training and support programs available for on-farm processing and value-adding.
Agritourism creates opportunities for farmers and regions to thrive, by connecting the agri-food economy with the tourism economy. It enables farmers to convert ordinary farm activities into extraordinary agritourism experiences by creating meaning and value through story. Agritourism is an opportunity for farmers to value-add, diversify, use spare capacity and underutilised assets whilst keeping farming as their core business.
Election Commitment: Recognition that agritourism, as defined on the first page of this document, is primary production ancillary income and will be viewed as such for the purposes of financial reporting to Qld government for grant applications, disaster relief funding, farm business resilience funding and the like.
