Cumberland continues economic work, defines agritourism

Published 12:16 am Friday, July 25, 2025

What qualifies as agritourism? What is defined as a working farm? Those are questions Cumberland County’s planning department gets asked on a regular basis. It affects everything from what state codes you have to follow for structures to requirements about traffic, sanitation and other parts of events. 

But up until now, the county didn’t have an internal policy of any kind, nothing to actually define what agritourism or a working farm means. With that in mind, Cumberland Planner Stephany Johnson and her staff did some research. After more than a year of work, Johnson presented the finalized version of the policy to Cumberland planning commission members during their meeting on Monday, July 21. The policy immediately goes into effect since it’s an internal document, meaning a tool for staff to use when being asked if a property does or does not qualify for agritourism exemptions. 

“Now that this policy is enacted, when someone has a property owner or a developer wants to have an event on their property, if they claim that it is an agritourism activity and therefore does not require a conditional use permit, then they would fill out these two exhibits that are attached to the policy and that would allow us to determine whether it does qualify for that exemption of agritourism,” Johnson told the commission. 

In other words, now there’s a document. You can come in, answer questions and then get a response that day as to if your planned event or planned project qualifies. 

Defining the words

So first off, in Cumberland County, a farm is defined as one or more acres of land that can be used for “the production, cultivation, growing, harvesting or processing of agricultural products.”

How about agritourism? That’s defined in the new policy as “any activity that is carried out on a farm or ranch that allows members of the general public to come out and observe.” Note the key words there being “carried out on a farm or ranch”. If the property doesn’t meet the requirements to be considered a working farm or ranch, then the event, regardless of what it is, doesn’t get the agritourism label. 

Johnson said in the past, they’ve had people come in and try to argue they run a farm because they own a horse or two. They would come in, then demand the agritourism exemption because they had a horse and wanted to rent out a second building on the property as an AirBnB. No crops, no animal production, nothing to classify it as a farm. 

“This sets a clear policy for those who are interested as to what is considered an agritourism activity,” Johnson told the commission, when asked why this was needed. “We get calls all the time if somebody wants to have a party on their farm or a concert on their farm.” 

A corn maze, for example, qualifies as agritourism if set up on a farm. Other agritourism activities, as defined by the county, include things like exhibits and museums related to farming or agricultural production; farm tours; a farmers market; farm-to-table tasting and dining activities. Hayrides, horseback riding activities, outdoor mazes using things like corn or straw? Absolutely, they all count. So do interactive animal or farming exhibits, barn dances, projects organized to host school field trips and any self-pick flower, fruit and vegetable operations. And to be clear, this isn’t a complete list. These are examples given. 

What doesn’t count as agritourism? 

By the same token, there are plenty of items that don’t count at all as agritourism. If you’re setting up a business using 4-wheelers, motorcycles or any other motor vehicles for competitions, that’s not defined by Cumberland as agritourism. The same goes for rodeos, a zipline company or concerts with amplified sound. Any festivals or fairs that use “mechanical amusement devices” aka rides are also off the list. 

And the planning department will use their new application form to help determine if an event qualifies or not. It’ll ask questions such as can your driveway handle the traffic coming in? How will you handle parking? How many people are you bringing onto your property? How far will activities be from the nearest neighboring property? Things like this will help planning staff define if you need to follow state building codes, if you need an event permit or if you’re free and clear to hold the activity. 

Cumberland County Administrator Derek Stamey applauded the policy, saying it would help the Economic Development Authority as they put together a strategic plan. It’s much easier to put together a plan for the future when there are specific definitions as to what is or isn’t allowed in some areas without permits. 

“One of the primary focuses of that (strategic) plan is to maintain the rural character of the county while providing for economic development opportunities,” Stamey said. “This agritourism policy does just that.” 

What happens next? 

As mentioned, the policy takes immediate effect. Because it’s an internal county policy, it doesn’t need a vote or recommendation from the planning commission or county supervisors. Now all structures and events already scheduled are grandfathered in under the new policy. This just affects new projects, permits or buildings being discussed since June 30.