“What hurts me is that this is some of the best farmland in the world,” McAdams said. “It makes it harder to farm if you’re trying to drive your equipment around a roundabout.”
Between 2017 and 2022, the state lost 4 percent of its total farmland, according to the most recent USDA census. Simultaneously, the cost of Oregon’s farm real estate jumped 23 percent, roughly three times as much as farmland in the rest of the nation. The most expensive land is clustered in the Willamette Valley.
“It makes it harder to farm if you’re trying to drive your equipment around a roundabout.”
Skyrocketing land values have roused a heated debate between farmers, advocacy groups, property owners, and conservationists over how to protect Oregon’s farmland as it gets developed for different uses. Some blame agritourism for driving the changes, arguing that once a parking lot or building is added onto farmland, the property becomes more expensive while simultaneously losing acreage to farm on. But others say agritourism provides extra income that helps farmers keep their business in operation.
In March 2025, Oregon moved toward regulating agritourism by considering new rules for farm stands. These rules would have most affected farms looking to build new farm stands rather than ones with already established stands. But a backlash led the governor to pause the process indefinitely. Now, farmers and communities are left to navigate the uncertainty while the challenges around shrinking farmland and access remain unresolved.
Source Farms is a collective of farmers who sell fresh meat, seafood, and other products at this farm stand in Yamhill, Oregon. Participating purveyors include Tabula Rasa Farms, Pat-n-Tam’s Beef, Dominion Farms, Naked Grazing, and Coleman Farms. (Photo courtesy of Tabula Rasa Farms)
Agritourism—attractions like pumpkin patches, hayrides, and farm-to-table dinners—is common in Oregon, drawing visitors from Portland, Bend, and other cities. Many events revolve around farm stands, the temporary or permanent structures that house farm products or sell tickets for farm activities.
Only 1.4 percent of Oregon farms earn income from agritourism and recreational services, according to an Oregon State University study. Those farms tend to be small and mid-size, earning supplemental income from operations like farm stands.
However, a few farms throughout the state have become popular destinations, causing traffic on rural roads and sometimes encroaching on neighboring properties, infringing on farm zones meant to preserve land for solely agricultural use.
Zoning laws vary depending on the county, though, leading to a patchwork permitting system that means one farm stand can sell products that a stand in a different county can’t.
Brenda Smola-Foti, owner of Tabula Rasa Farms, with one of her cows. (Photo courtesy of Tabula Rasa Farms)
“This web of rulemaking and ordinances . . . they just frustrate most small farmers,” said Brenda Smola-Foti, owner of Tabula Rasa Farms, a beef, lamb, poultry, and pork operation in Carlton, Oregon. She also operates luxury vacation rentals and hosts farm tours, cooking classes, and private chef dinners on her property.
Land-use and conservation groups who support farm-stand regulations are critical of these types of ventures, arguing that their infrastructure—parking lots, septic drain fields, and buildings—increase property values and also make it harder to farm on that land in the future.
