Agritourism, Farm Stay and Eco-Lodge Feasibility Study

Independent feasibility studies for lodging added to working farms, vineyards, ranches and orchards, and for eco-lodges in rural areas, prepared for SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA B&I and conventional lenders. Part of our glamping and short-term rental feasibility study cluster.

From $4,900, fixed fee. 9 to 16 business days. Rush from 5 business days.

A farm stay is an existing agricultural business adding a lodging business, and the lender underwrites both. The farm's historical cash flow carries the credit; the lodging's projected cash flow has to earn its own place in the debt service. The study models them as separate revenue centres with separate permits, separate cost ratios and separate tax treatment, then tests the combined DSCR. That separation is also what the programmes require: SBA asks whether more than 50 percent of the applicant's revenue is transient lodging, and USDA asks whether at least 50 percent of a mixed project's revenue is business use rather than agricultural production.

The 2022 Census of Agriculture counts $1.26 billion of agritourism and recreational services income on 28,617 US farms, up from $949.3 million in 2017; USDA ERS reports the increase at 12.4 percent after inflation, with 57 percent of counties reporting agritourism income and the top 50 counties, eight of them in Texas, producing $352 million. Texas reported $191.8 million on 4,816 farms. Unadjusted growth from 2017 to 2022 was 125.6 percent in South Carolina, 99.6 percent in Mississippi, 70.7 percent in Oklahoma and 68.4 percent in Tennessee. The Census question likely under-counts overnight farm stays, and Texas totals are heavily hunting-driven, so the study treats these as a floor on the segment, not a lodging demand figure.

Wine tourism is the best-documented sub-segment. Texas wineries drew 2.64 million tourist visits and $503.98 million of tourism spending in 2025, about $191 a visit, across 617 producers and 14,043 vineyard acres; Gillespie County visitor spending was $175 million in 2024 with 1,200 tourism jobs. Camping demand is the other anchor: KOA's 2026 report counts 52.2 million North American camping households in 2025, with glamping at 29 percent of camping experiences and 77 percent of campers saying that being in nature is enough.

SBA. The applicant must pass the transient test: more than 50 percent of revenue from transients staying 30 days or less, with zoning compliance (SOP 50 10 8, Section A, Chapter 1, Paragraph E.3, page 20). For a working farm adding a few units, lodging may be well under half of total revenue, in which case the lodging business is structured as its own operating company or the application is sized to the farm's eligibility as an operating business. An existing business expanding into lodging has no fixed SBA equity minimum and is underwritten on global cash flow; a start-up needs at least 10 percent of total project cost. Under the September 25, 2026 Technical Policy Updates to SOP 50 10 8.1, a 7(a) loan may run 25 years when at least 51 percent of proceeds fund real estate, otherwise the maturity blends; cabins on foundations are real estate and tents or domes are equipment. The 7(a) variable cap is 10.00 percent on loans over $350,000 at the 7.00 percent prime in force since September 17, 2026, and loans of $700,000 or less in rural areas pay no upfront fee in FY2027.

USDA. Tourist and recreation facilities are eligible under 7 CFR 5001.105(b)(8); mixed-use projects qualify where at least 50 percent of projected revenue is business use under 5001.105(b)(13); agricultural production is limited under 5001.105(b)(7), so the guarantee covers the lodging and tourism improvements, not the vineyard or the herd; owner-occupied living quarters are permitted only where their pro rata value is deducted from loan proceeds. An existing business needs 10 percent balance sheet equity under 5001.105(d). FY2026 terms are an 85 percent guarantee on loans under $5 million, a 3.0 percent fee and a 0.55 percent retention fee. Rural status is checked at parcel level on the USDA Eligibility Map. REAP guaranteed loans continue for on-site solar and efficiency, while REAP grants are paused pending the rewrite of 7 CFR 4280 Subpart B.

Liability and permits. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 75A (effective September 1, 2015) limits an agritourism operator's liability for participant injury where the statutory warning sign is posted or a signed agreement is obtained, with no protection for negligent disregard of safety, known dangerous conditions, failure to train or intentional harm; it does not cover overnight lodging, which is insured separately. A Texas winery's G permit authorizes wine manufacture, sale to consumers for on- and off-premise consumption and festivals subject to approval, and a winery selling for on-premises consumption must keep food available; wine service in guest units is a separate privilege and needs counsel on a premises amendment. Every state has its own version of the agritourism act, the alcohol permit and the farm-stay exemption, and the study documents the parcel's set.

The agritourism pathway is the one most likely to permit glamping on agricultural land without a rezoning, and it carries its own limits:

Wastewater is the binding engineering constraint on a farm parcel that already carries a tasting room or event load; the study sizes the combined flow to the state rule before the unit count is fixed.

In the Hill Country, Fredericksburg's STR market shows 2,617 active listings at 42 percent occupancy and $328 ADR on AirDNA to September 2026, with ADR down 10.3 percent and RevPAR down 13.9 percent year over year, against 32.6 percent and $338 on AirROI for an overlapping period; the nine-point vendor spread is itself a sensitivity range. Published rates in the competitive set run from $85 a night for a winery safari tent to $600 to $1,000 for a treehouse at a design-forward glamping resort, with domes from about $261. On these inputs, fourteen keys gross roughly $0.47 million to $0.70 million a year, so the lodging stream supports a loan in the low $2 million range on its own, and anything larger is carried by the farm's documented cash flow. The study says so, because the lender will.

Distribution cost is modelled per channel at the fee in force: Airbnb 15.5 percent host-only, Vrbo 12 percent from October 29, 2026, Hipcamp 12.5 to 15 percent, Glamping Hub up to 4 percent.

An average stay of seven days or less takes the lodging activity outside the per se rental rule under Treasury Regulation 1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A), with losses nonpassive where the owner materially participates; average use is measured per property, so the farm's lodging is calculated separately from any longer-term rental on the parcel. Public Law 119-21 permanently restored 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025, which applies to removable tents, domes and furnishings; lodging buildings rented more than 50 percent to transients are 39-year property and site improvements are 15-year. The study reports after-tax returns to the owner separately from the lender's pre-tax DSCR.

Programme detail: SBA 7(a) and 504 for glamping and cabin resorts and USDA B&I financing for glamping resorts and campgrounds. Adjacent formats: tiny home, park model and microcabin villages and retreat centers. See the RV park feasibility study for pads on farmland, the restaurant feasibility study for the food and beverage component, the Texas and California state pages, and where we work.

Prepared by Michal Mohelsky, J.D., FMVA, Practicing Affiliate of the Appraisal Institute. Studies are prepared under USPAP discipline, aligned with SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 and 7 CFR Part 5001, Appendix A to Subpart D. A senior analyst responds to proposal requests within 12 business hours from the firm's San Francisco office at 27 Maiden Lane, Suite 625.