Florida’s Agritourism Laws: AEC623/WC285, 9/2017

Abstract

Agritourism marries Florida’s two largest industries, tourism and agriculture, to provide an on-farm recreational experience for consumers. Florida has experienced record tourism in recent years, with 105 million visitors spending more than $85 billion in 2015, according to VISIT Florida¹. Although Florida trails many other states in the number of agritourism operations², the number of Florida farms offering recreational experiences more than doubled from 281 in 2007 to 724 in 2012, according to USDA Census of Agriculture data³. This document describes the laws governing Florida agritourism operations, including the original 2013 definition (F.S. 570.96) and clarifications passed in 2016 (F.S. 570.85-89). A companion document, Agritourism Building Code Rule Development⁴, discusses statutes affecting building and fire codes for agritourism operations.