Rural Land, Real Income: Agritourism in NSW Explained

If you own rural or hobby-farm land in NSW, there's a good chance it can earn income beyond grazing or cropping. Since the NSW Government's agritourism reforms, the planning system recognises three new categories of farm-based business: farm stay accommodation, farm gate premises and farm experience premises. Each can be run with little or no approval — if you stay inside the standards.

Farm stay accommodation covers guest rooms, cottages, camping, caravans and glamping — including hosting platforms like Hipcamp. Farm gate premises are where you sell your own produce: roadside stalls, tastings and pick-your-own. Farm experience premises cover visitor activities like tours, workshops, cheese-making classes and animal encounters. Many farms run two or three of these together.

The pathway depends on scale. Small operations that meet the Codes SEPP standards can be exempt development — no planning approval at all — or complying development, a fast-tracked certificate. Larger operations need a development application with council. Two conditions gate everything: the activity must be ancillary to a genuine commercial farm (land rated as farmland, or a primary production business under tax law), and the land is generally zoned RU1, RU2 or RU4.

Some land is off-limits regardless: floodways, critical habitat and significantly contaminated land are excluded from the exempt and complying pathways. And planning approval is only one layer — hosting visitors can also trigger public liability insurance, food or liquor licensing, Section 68 approvals for moveable dwellings and sewage management, biosecurity signage and a change to how your land is rated.

A note on Hipcamp: listing on a platform doesn't change the planning rules. Hosting paying campers is farm stay accommodation whether you find guests through Hipcamp, Airbnb or a hand-painted sign at the gate — the same standards apply.

Start by confirming your zoning and reading the Codes SEPP standards for your idea, then talk to your council's duty planner before you invest. Our Rural Land Revenue: Agritourism Toolkit walks you through each option with decision trees, compliance checklists and the questions to ask council — or book a consultation if your plans are larger scale.