Attention Agritourism Operators!
You May Be at Serious Risk of Losing Your Agritourism Rights Due to a Recent Court Decision!
Florida Agritourism Under Attack
It all started in 2019 when a farmer in Jefferson County Florida updated his existing Barn on his farm in order to conduct agritourism events. He thought he was doing what the law was encouraging him to do. But instead, the County shut him down for hosting events on his farm and they went to court. After a lengthy and expensive legal battle, on Feb 17, 2025, the judge ruled, "Therefore, because these new renovations constitute the construction of new or additional structures or facilities intended primarily to accommodate members of the general public, the subject events are not agritourism activities..." As crazy as this sounds, what the judge decided was that because the farmer made updates to his farm in order to host agritourism events, the activities taking place on his farm were no longer agritourism activities!
The "Exclusion Clause"
The judge's decision was based on her interpretation of the “Exclusion Clause” in the Agritourism Law, which reads:
"...An agritourism activity does not include the construction of new or additional structures or facilities intended primarily to house, shelter, transport, or otherwise accommodate members of the general public..."
This new interpretation of the "Exclusion Clause" is disastrous for Agritourism Operators!
Who is Impacted By This?
Essentially every Agritourism Operator! If you have made any adjustments to your farm to accommodate the general public, such as adding bathrooms, a pole barn for shade, a playground for the kids or even a parking area; based on the Jefferson County Judge's logic, all of the agritourism activities taking place on your farm are no longer agritourism!
What Can This Do to You?
When the Exclusion Clause is interpreted in the way the Jefferson County Judge did, the impacts to Agritourism Operators can be catastrophic!
(1) No Liability Protection: Personal Injury Attorneys can attempt to bypass the entire liability protection portion of the law. Therefore, if someone gets hurt on your farm and you are sued (which happens very often), you'll only have your insurance company to protect you. But unfortunately, many insurers deny coverage due to fine print exclusions. Therefore, you could potentially lose your farm to a frivolous lawsuit because someone tripped in your field while picking fruit! There are Florida farmers with active cases right now from Plaintiffs using the new interpretation of the Exclusion Clause against them.
(2) No Ag Classification Protection: Property Appraisers can ignore the following sentence in the law, "...An agricultural classification ... may not be denied or revoked solely due to the conduct of agritourism activity..." and deny your Ag Classification because you are conducting Agritourism on your farm! This is happening to Agritourism Operators across the state right now.
And when you lose your Ag Classification, you no longer get the protections of this sentence, "...a local government may not adopt or enforce a local ordinance, regulation, rule, or policy that prohibits, restricts, regulates, or otherwise limits an agritourism activity on land classified as agricultural land..." And when you lose those protections, the County can shut down your Agritourism operations altogether! Some counties are currently trying to doing this to Agritourism Operators.
(3) No Right to Farm Act Protections: All of the protections of the Right to Farm Act that extend to Agritourism could be ignored too.
These impacts are real, apply to essentially every Agritourism Operator and are already affecting Florida farmers right now! We need to act fast!
How Do You Protect Your Agritourism Rights?
All agritourism operators need to come together as a unified group, agree on simple law change and then use each of our political connections to get the amendment passed in the 2026 legislative session.
Your Next Step
Join the "Protect Florida Agritourism" Private Facebook Group below. When you join, you will get access to the legal work we have already done on this matter as well as some proposed law change ideas our attorneys have come up with. Plus, we'll keep you updated on our progress and you'll have a private forum to share your thoughts and ideas. Join the group and let's fix this together!
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