Agritourism pioneers reaping the benefits

Agritourism has now firmly established itself as a blossoming industry in Tasmania.

However, when Curringa Farm at Hamilton first began welcoming guests to its cottages on the 300ha property in 1984, it was a novel concept.

Now boasting nine cottages and a function centre, visitors have the opportunity to walk around with the roughly 3000 sheep at the farm – as well as interact with the handful of highland cows and alpacas on-site.

Curringa also runs farm tours featuring a working dog show and a sheep shearing demonstration before finishing with a BBQ lunch.

Tim and Jane Parsons took over the farm in 2002, with Jane looking after the accommodation side of the business and Tim handling the sheep and cropping operations.

The married couple - who plan to hand Curringa over to their children, Jock and Sarah, once they retire - are part of a long line of Parsons who have been running the farm.

The Parsons’ ancestors bought the property in 1834, but it was sold in 1939.

Tim’s grandfather then repurchased it in 1969 and it has remained in the family since.

Originally a mostly sheep meat and wool enterprise, around five years after the Parsons started the agritourism centre, they began growing and exporting niche vegetable seeds.

“This year has been one of only two or three years we haven’t grown,” Tim said.

“Last year’s winter, during that super-wet August, we had a seed crop of carrots that were destroyed.

“That’s the risk you take with the job.”

Before the vegetable hiatus, Tim said he also grew cabbage and onions.

But now poppies are the focus for Curringa farm.

“We grow about 20 hectares of poppies a year and that’s a good, honest crop - you get what you put in,” Tim said.

“And this year we’re having a go at pyrethrum, which has taken the brain power for the seed crops.”

Curringa Farm won the World Agritourism Award in both 2023 and 2024, around 40 years after it started providing accommodation on the property.

“When we started in the early 80s, it was almost unheard of and was in its infancy,” Tim said.

“We harnessed that opportunity to provide a farm stay, cottage experiences, and at the same time, introduce people to come and look at the farm.”

Tim said agritourism was something that could make farms more financially stable enterprises.

“The critical benefit is that farms can enhance and expand for future generations.

“It provides a stable income stream to farm businesses that traditionally have a really hard go of selling primary produce.

“We’ve been doing it hard for 200 years, so this opportunity in the 80s came up and we have been better off for it.”

Around 1 million people from interstate come to Tasmania each year and there are about 250,000 from outside Australia visiting the state.

Tim said the bulk of Curringa Farm’s visitors were internationals, particularly from Southeast Asia, and had tailored its marketing campaigns to focus on that region.

“It can be novel to go visit a farm.

“When picking up the demographic of Southeast Asia and Greater China, the people that live in the high-density cities there have picked up on us to come and experience a space that is so different to anything they’ve experienced before.”

With most visitors only staying for a day to do the farm tour, Tim said guests often remarked about how they were leaving with amazing memories.

“They’re coming for a look, but they go away with a clearer understanding of farming and food production – which is the subtle message.

“Our story is the same as every farmer’s story - that we care for our land, we care for our animals, we grow our crops and we do the things we need to do to generate an income.”

Tim said he believed Curringa Farm was pushing that message straight into major cities such as Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong through those who visited the property.

“And they’re telling their friends, and globally, that conversation spreads out about the importance of food and agriculture.

“We provide an easy way to step into it and have a look.”

With agritourism now an entrenched industry, Tim said “the time is ripe” for it to grow further.

“Until now, it hasn’t been easy to flesh out something called agritourism because we’ve struggled for a definition.

“Is it a farmers' market in the city? Is it a restaurant selling local produce? Is it a golf course? Does agritourism incorporate wineries?”

Tim said agritourism was now recognised as a standalone industry that could incorporate all those things and had simultaneously become more easily defined.

“We are at the front end of an exciting chapter for where agritourism is going.

“At the moment, the light switch is flickering, but it's going to come on and stay on not only just here but right across the country.”

Curringa Farm’s 40 years of agritourism have allowed it to future-proof its overall operations.

“We can back off sheep numbers, crop a bit more sensitively, and reinvest profit back into tree shelter belts and environmental management of the farm,” Tim said.

“Agritourism has given us this diversity of business where we can farm more softly.

“And when we farm softer, we’re able to ride out the climatic peaks of drought and risks such as bushfires and floods.”

Tim said that for farms looking to venture into agritourism, there were large initial capital costs and ongoing funds needed for maintenance.

“There’s no end of headaches and things to do, but that balance works for us and makes it a great thing.

“The environment and produce are better off, and we’re financially just that little bit more stable than we would be just as traditional farmers.”