Agritourism to hit full bloom in South Australia

SA's Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison says the group includes representatives from the wool, aquaculture and horticulture industries and will strategise the best ways to overcome barriers to expanding the sector.

Each year, $994m is spent on agritourism in SA with $894m stemming from wine tourism.

The goal is to increase that non-wine spend - currently $100m - to $295m by December next year.

"Nationally we have a $17.4 billion agritourism market but there's still a lot of growth potential," Ms Bettison said.

"We have established agritourism in the winery cellar door market but there is great opportunity for diversification."

Numerous on-farm experiences have been popping up across the state in the past few years.

Tourists have been flocking to 'pick-your-own' sessions on strawberry, apple, sunflower and lavender farms in the Adelaide Hills, going on alpaca farm tours on the Fleurieu Peninsula, witnessing shearing demonstrations on a working farm on Kangaroo Island, learning how to schuck oysters at a Coffin Bay oyster farm, joining a milking tour at a camel dairy in Robe, and doing four-wheel-drive tours of stations in the Flinders Ranges.

A pick-your-own lavender bunch experience launched this season has helped fast-track the business expansion of Hahndorf Lavender Estate.

The third-generation custodian of a farm block near the Adelaide Hills tourist haven, Thomas Mahar first started planting lavender in 2018.

The block had previously been used to run a few cattle, but with 1.5 million tourists flocking to Hahndorf each year, Mr Mahar saw an opportunity.

"We found there was a gap in the market for a lavender farm and a complementary agritourism business," he said.

"It has been a labour of love for seven years because there isn't a commercial return on a lavender crop for the first three to four years."

Last year, Mr Mahar, his partner Nicole Jordan and his father Peter launched lavender-inspired cosmetic brand Lavé Essentials and Ms Jordan pitched a pick-your-own on-farm experience as a way to raise awareness of the brand and the farm.

Opening its gates in December, the farm had 4500 visitors in 4.5 weeks, with a $20 entry fee including the time to pick their own lavender bunch, photo opportunities and a 6ml bottle of lavender essential oil.

"We thought we might get 30 people a day but on one of our busiest days we had 400 to 500 people," Mr Mahar said.

The tourism venture has resulted in media coverage, increased sales of their lavender products and has helped fast-track plans for a shopfront and visitor carpark.

"It was not just about people picking their own bunch, but also educating them on what they wanted to know about lavender production," Mr Mahar said.

"A lot of people are amazed there are 90 different varieties of lavender with different oil properties, different smells and different uses."

Three years ago, Tim and Monika McArthur were pondering the best way to make income from the 50 acres left from what was once a larger dairy, potato and sheep farm near Meadows.

A property in Tim's family for close to 90 years, the couple - who also hold down their own jobs - had run sheep and cut hay but it was a sunflower idea that bloomed brightest.

"We'd just gone from having 200 acres and going back a generation my grandparents were able to make a living off that acreage," Tim said.

Drawing inspiration from similar ventures overseas and interstate, the McArthurs bought a bag of sunflower seed for a test patch, consulted their agronomist and away they went.

It was during the height of the COVID pandemic so initially they only invited family and friends to view the flowers in full bloom, but word quickly spread of the fields of yellow through social media and a Glam Adelaide feature.

The McArthurs now welcome up to 400 visitors each weekend in December and January for a pick your own sunflower experience, which includes a certain number of stems depending on the ticket purchased, and numerous photo opportunities.

They also hold morning and evening sessions during the week and their six acres of sunflowers have hosted family visits, date nights, proposals, baby photoshoots, and the admiring eyes of florists and flower enthusiasts.

"We've had people that have driven from as far as the Barossa and the Eyre Peninsula," Monika said.

"We've also had people that come back every year."

Tim said roughly half of all visitors also treated the visit as an educational experience, asking questions about the farm and its history and what goes into growing flowers.

Once the sunflowers wilt, Tim rolls them back into the paddock and a winter crop is grown before the process begins again.

The couple say they have some ideas bubbling away about enhancing and expanding the pick your own experience.

"People often go onto other pick your own experiences and go for lunch in local towns so agritourism is benefitting a wide range of businesses," Monika said.

SA Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison says the recently established agritourism group will work on how to sell the potential of the industry to farmers.

She believes agritourism's appeal for producers is in income diversification and the opportunity to keep more people in regional areas.

"We want to look at how we can provide toolkits for people and how we can support them to have this income diversification on-farm," she said.

"It's also a way of getting our kids connected to food production and learning and seeing where food comes from.

"People are very interested in knowing where our food is grown and what is involved.

"Agritourism is a way of telling a story about food production, which we do very well in SA."