NFF CEO Mike Guerin’s address to the Agri and Aqua Tourism Summit 2026, Murwillumbah, 20 October 2026

Good morning everyone.

And thank you for the opportunity to open this Agri & Aqua Tourism Summit.

It is wonderful to be here in the Tweed – a region which, in many ways, captures the opportunity we are here to discuss.

Extraordinary agricultural production. Waterways and landscapes that people want to experience. Outstanding food and drink. And communities with stories worth telling.

Farmers, of course, have always been involved in tourism.

We have hosted distant relatives, lost motorists and government officials who arrive in clean boots.

The only problem is that, historically, we have not charged most of them.

Perhaps that is the first business model we can fix today.

Over the next two days, you will hear a great deal about how to identify, develop, price, package and market an agritourism or agri-aqua experience.

My task this morning is slightly different.

Before we get to the how, I want to talk about the why.

Why this opportunity matters. Why it matters now. And why actively examining new ways to create and retain value has become essential for regional businesses.

I want to begin with a simple proposition.

Agritourism is no longer optional.

Now, I do not mean that every farmer needs to open a cafe, build six cabins and start conducting sunset tractor tours.

Nor do I mean that every farming, fishing or aquaculture enterprise should suddenly become a visitor destination.

Agritourism will not suit every business. It will not suit every property. And, if we are honest, it will not suit every personality.

Some people went farming precisely because they preferred cattle to customers.

But actively examining how we diversify income, capture more value and build greater resilience is no longer optional.

Because the economic environment in which regional businesses operate has changed. The expectations of consumers have changed. The nature of risk has changed. And the assets from which a regional business can generate value have changed as well.

That is the reset I want to talk about this morning.

Not a rejection of production agriculture. Not an admission that farming has somehow failed. And not an invitation to turn every working farm into a theme park.

It is a reset in how we understand value – and how much of that value farmers, fishers, landholders and regional communities are able to retain.

The reality check

Australian agriculture is one of our great national success stories.

We produce high-quality food and fibre in one of the most variable climates on earth. We supply Australian families and customers around the world. We steward enormous areas of land and water. We support regional communities, export earnings, food security and national resilience.

And we do this, overwhelmingly, without the levels of direct support enjoyed by producers in most other developed countries.

The OECD consistently finds that Australian farmers are among the least subsidised in the developed world.

Australian agriculture has operated without market price support since 2000. Our producers largely face world prices, open markets and international competition.

That is unusual. It is something of which Australian agriculture should be proud.

It has helped create producers who are innovative, adaptable, commercially disciplined and deeply responsive to markets.

Australian farmers have learned to stand on their own feet – although drought, flood and commodity markets regularly seem determined to knock those feet out from underneath them.

That low-subsidy environment is a source of strength.

But let us be clear: it also means Australian producers carry risks that governments and taxpayers absorb elsewhere.

They carry production risk. Seasonal risk. Input-cost risk. Market risk. Exchange-rate risk. Labour risk. Biosecurity risk. And increasingly, regulatory and geopolitical risk.

For many producers, the question is no longer simply: “How much can I produce?”

It is: “How much value can I retain?”

That distinction matters.

A farmer can become more efficient, produce more and work harder – and still find that margins are being compressed.

Fuel, fertiliser, energy, insurance, finance, freight and labour all cost more. Compliance obligations continue to grow. Infrastructure does not always keep pace. Supply chains remain vulnerable. Consumers are under pressure themselves.

And producers often remain price-takers at both ends of their business – paying the price asked for their inputs and accepting the price offered for their product.

Anyone who believes the answer is simply for farmers to work harder has probably never met one.

Nor can we assume that volatility is a temporary interruption before everything returns to normal.

Volatility may now be the normal.

Climate variability, geopolitical tension, changing trade relationships, supply-chain disruption and rapidly evolving consumer expectations are becoming structural features of the operating environment.

That does not mean we should be pessimistic. Agriculture has always adapted.

But it does mean that resilience cannot simply mean surviving the next difficult season.

Real resilience means having choices. It means having more than one way to create value. More than one relationship with a customer. And, where possible, more than one source of income.

What is the reset

For much of modern agriculture, the dominant economic logic has been relatively straightforward:

Produce more. Become more efficient. Lower the unit cost. Find a market. Repeat.

That model has driven extraordinary gains in productivity and helped make Australia an agricultural powerhouse. It remains essential.

We will need productive, efficient and internationally competitive farms more than ever.

But it is no longer sufficient on its own.

The next opportunity is not only to produce more value. It is to capture more of the value already being created.

Every agricultural business has assets.

The obvious ones are land, water, livestock, crops, equipment and infrastructure.

But there are others.

Knowledge accumulated across generations. Distinctive landscapes. Production practices. Local history. Cultural heritage. Wildlife. Waterways. Food provenance. Family stories. And the experience of being somewhere real, with people who know and care for that place.

Historically, many of those assets have supported production but have not generated income in their own right.

Agritourism invites us to look at them differently.

It asks: What do we already have that another person might value? What do we know that another person would be interested to learn? What happens here that someone else would pay to experience? And how might we create income from that without compromising the core agricultural business?

That is why I see agritourism not simply as tourism, but as value capture.

It allows a producer to sell more than a commodity. To sell provenance. To sell access. To sell knowledge. To sell participation. To sell a story.

And sometimes, importantly, to sell the commodity as well – but with a face, a place and a relationship attached to it.

For some of you, that idea will be new. Others will already have an idea and want to test whether it is commercially sound. Some will be operating an established experience and looking to improve its margins, reach new customers or encourage visitors to stay longer and spend more.

Wherever you are starting from, the underlying question is the same:

What assets do I already control, what does a customer genuinely value, and can I connect the two profitably?

That is the question the Summit’s Business Blueprint should help each of you answer.

What has changed for the visitor

It is not only that farmers and regional businesses need new sources of value. Visitors are seeking different forms of value too.

People increasingly want experiences that feel authentic.

They want to know where their food came from. They want to meet the people who produced it. They want their children to see that milk does not originate in a supermarket refrigerator and that fish do not begin life in polystyrene boxes.

They want to understand seasons, landscapes, animals and production. They want to taste something where it was grown. They want to hear the story from the person who lived it.

In a world of screens, algorithms and manufactured content, reality has become surprisingly valuable.

Agriculture has reality in abundance.

The mud is real. The weather is real. The animals are real. The work is real. And the stories are real.

Although I suspect there will be moments when visitors decide they would prefer the mud to be slightly less real.

Agritourism might include farm stays, food trails, tastings, tours, pick-your-own experiences, workshops, events, educational programs or direct sales.

Agri-aqua tourism broadens that further – to fishing, aquaculture, waterways, coastal production and the extraordinary knowledge held by people who make their living from water.

There is no single model.

Diversification is not about copying someone else’s enterprise. It is about understanding your own assets, capabilities, appetite for risk and the customer you are best placed to serve.

The opportunity here in New South Wales

There could scarcely be a better place to have this conversation than New South Wales.

As the NSW Minister has observed, this is one of Australia’s most seasonally diverse agricultural and aquaculture regions.

That diversity gives visitors something to experience throughout the year: a truffle hunt, a cellar-door visit, picking fruit from the tree, or meeting an oyster grower and tasting the product while standing in the water in which it was grown.

Those experiences are authentic, immersive and connected to place. They introduce people not only to a product, but to its producer and community.

The broader visitor economy tells us that the market is already here.

In the year ending March 2026, New South Wales welcomed more than 129 million visitors. Collectively, they stayed almost 227 million nights and spent nearly $62 billion.

The North Coast alone attracted around 13.8 million visitors in 2024.

Those figures are impressive – but the opportunity is not simply to pursue an ever-larger number of visitors.

It is to give those already travelling another reason to turn off the highway. Another reason to stay for a night rather than an afternoon. Another reason to return outside the traditional holiday season. And another reason to spend with locally owned regional businesses.

That is why the NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2035 identifies agritourism as a significant growth opportunity.

Here in the Tweed, that opportunity is visible all around us.

This region sits at the meeting point of agriculture, aquaculture, food, distilling, environmental experience and an established tourism market.

It has sugar cane and tropical fruit. Cattle, horticulture and seafood. Distinctive villages, waterways and landscapes. It has food businesses already building identities around local provenance.

It also has proximity to a large visitor population moving between the Gold Coast, Byron Bay and the wider North Coast.

The strategic question is not whether people will come to this part of Australia. They are already coming.

The question is how we connect more of that visitation to working farms, waterways, producers and communities – and how we ensure more of the resulting value remains here.

A visitor may initially come for the landscape. But they can leave with a bottle made from local sugar cane. A box of fruit. A greater understanding of an oyster lease. A meal built around regional produce. A story about the farmer they met. And a reason to return.

That is the difference between visitation and a visitor economy.

One counts people. The other creates enduring value from their presence.

More value not simply more volume

The theme running through this Summit is powerful: turn your land, water and story into income.

The operative word is income.

Not activity. Not followers. Not visitors for their own sake. Income.

A full car park is not necessarily a profitable business. A popular social media account is not necessarily a profitable business. And being busy is not the same as making money – although agriculture has sometimes treated the two as close relatives.

Agritourism must be approached with the same discipline as any other enterprise.

Who is the customer? What do they value? What will they pay? What will it genuinely cost to deliver? What risks are involved? What capability is required? And does it produce an adequate return on the time, capital and energy invested?

The starting point is not: “What could we build?”

It is: “Who is the customer, and why would they come?”

Only then should you ask what needs to be built.

This Summit is designed to help you close the distance between an interesting idea and a viable business.

You will hear what worked, what did not, what operators underestimated, what they would do differently and what lessons you can apply without having to pay the full price of learning them yourself.

A new enterprise should add resilience to a business, not merely add another unpaid job to the family.

At its best, agritourism strengthens the core enterprise. It creates a direct route to market, builds a customer base, increases brand value and can create roles for family members whose interests extend beyond traditional production.

For some businesses, it may become a major source of revenue. For others, it may remain complementary. Both can be successful.

The regional dividend

When visitors come to a farm, fishery, orchard, winery, distillery or aquaculture business, they rarely spend money in only one place.

They buy fuel. They eat locally. They stay overnight. They visit another producer. They purchase local food, art or craft. They tell other people about the region.

One successful enterprise can create demand for another.

A farm experience becomes part of a food trail. A food trail supports accommodation. Accommodation supports hospitality. Hospitality creates demand for local produce. Local produce strengthens the identity of the destination.

That is how a collection of individual businesses becomes a regional economy.

This is also why partnership matters.

Not every business needs to provide every part of the visitor experience. A farm may provide the experience. Another business may provide accommodation. A local restaurant may showcase the product. A tour operator may bring the customer. A regional tourism body may connect those offerings into something visitors can understand and book.

It is worth asking during this Summit not only, “What can I create?” but also, “Who could I create it with?”

Agritourism can also build understanding between agriculture and the wider community.

Most Australians value farmers. But fewer Australians personally know one.

As the population becomes more urban, the physical and cultural distance between food production and food consumption continues to grow.

Agritourism can help close that distance. It allows people to see the complexity of producing food and fibre, understand the care involved in managing land, water and animals, and meet the people behind the product.

Understanding begins with proximity. Trust begins with relationships.

What we can learn from Italy

There are lessons from around the world about what becomes possible when farmers, communities and governments share a clear vision for agritourism.

Perhaps the strongest example is Italy.

The Italian word – agriturismo – has become internationally recognised.

But that success did not happen simply because Italy possesses beautiful landscapes, excellent food and a considerable head start in the art of long lunches.

Italy made a deliberate policy choice.

It recognised agritourism as an activity connected to agriculture – not merely as another form of accommodation or hospitality.

National legislation established a clear framework, while regional governments adapted the rules to local conditions. Critically, the farm remains at the centre.

Working farms can offer accommodation, meals, tastings, education and recreation. Existing rural buildings can be brought back into productive use. Local food and agricultural traditions become economic assets. Regional identity becomes part of the visitor offer.

In 2024, Italy had more than 26,000 authorised agritourism enterprises. They hosted around 4.7 million visitors, more than half of them international.

The most important lesson is not the number of beds or meals. It is the system that sits behind them.

Agricultural policy recognises farm diversification. Tourism marketing recognises working landscapes and regional food. Planning frameworks recognise that a farm can produce both commodities and experiences. Industry associations help with capability and market visibility.

Italy is not Australia. Its farms are generally smaller, its population density is higher and its subsidy environment is very different.

I am also unconvinced that Australians could be persuaded to take a three-hour lunch every day purely as an economic development measure – although I accept some people in this room may be willing to participate in the trial.

But Italy demonstrates an important principle.

Agritourism performs best when government policy, regional identity, industry capability and individual enterprise are aligned.

Australia does not need to reproduce the Italian model. We need to learn from its coherence.

Keep genuine agriculture at the centre. Create clear and proportionate rules. Recognise the reuse of existing farm assets. Connect tourism marketing with regional food production. Build capability among operators. Encourage groups of businesses to create destinations together.

The best outcome is not one successful farm stay operating alone. It is a region in which producers, hospitality businesses, accommodation providers, councils and tourism bodies reinforce one another.

Our low subsidy position

Australian producers operate in a fundamentally different policy environment from many overseas competitors.

Across much of the developed world, agricultural policy has historically supported farm incomes through price protection, direct payments or production support.

Australia chose another path. We dismantled statutory marketing arrangements, removed most price support and exposed our producers to global competition.

That reform created a highly productive and export-oriented industry. But it also means Australian agriculture has fewer cushions when margins tighten or markets shift.

Our relatively unsubsidised position has helped create a culture of enterprise. Australian farmers are used to responding to price signals. They innovate because they have to. They manage risk because no one else will manage all of it for them.

But government must not interpret a history of self-reliance as an excuse for indifference.

There is a world of difference between asking government for a permanent operating subsidy and asking government to create the conditions in which enterprise can succeed.

Australian farmers are not asking government to run their agritourism businesses.

They do not want a departmental officer designing the farm tour – and, with respect, visitors probably do not either.

But government has a legitimate enabling role.

That means planning systems which understand mixed agricultural and visitor uses. Clear and proportionate rules. Roads and signs that allow people to reach regional businesses safely. Reliable telecommunications. Workforce development. Biosecurity arrangements that protect production while allowing managed visitor access. Destination marketing that includes working agricultural regions.

And coordination across levels of government so that a good business idea is not slowly exhausted by contradictory approvals.

The policy question should not be: “How do we subsidise this?”

It should be: “What is preventing capable people from doing it?”

Government should then work with industry to remove those barriers without compromising biosecurity, safety or environmental responsibility.

Australian producers have demonstrated that they can compete without the protections common elsewhere.

Surely, in return, they are entitled to policy settings that do not unnecessarily prevent them from competing.

A word of caution

There is much to be optimistic about, but optimism should not become romanticism.

Agritourism is not easy money.

Visitors bring expectations. They require communication, reliability, hospitality, safety and attention to detail.

A gate that a farmer regards as “a bit temperamental” may be remembered rather differently by a family arriving after dark.

The things that make a property productive are not automatically the things that make it visitor-ready.

Can a visitor understand the offer in ten seconds? Can they book it easily? Do they know what to bring? Will it still work if it rains? Have you priced your own time? Have you included insurance, cleaning, maintenance, marketing and compliance?

These are not reasons to step back. They are reasons to treat the opportunity seriously.

Success in business is often presented as a series of brilliant decisions.

In reality, it is usually a series of mistakes that were recognised early enough – and cheaply enough – to be corrected.

So ask the awkward questions. Test the assumptions. Listen closely when someone tells you what they would do differently. And do not confuse enthusiasm with demand.

Your family may think your idea for a two-hour historical irrigation tour is fascinating.

That is encouraging.

But it is not yet market research.

Start small enough to learn. Test the experience before committing significant capital. Ask customers what they valued – and watch what they were actually willing to pay for.

The objective is not to avoid every mistake. It is to avoid making an expensive mistake before you have learned enough to make a better decision.

Your blueprint begins here

This Summit has made a deliberate promise.

You should leave with more than ideas. You should leave with a business blueprint.

That will require more from you than simply listening.

It will require you to test what you hear against the realities of your own property, business and community.

Not every idea will fit. Not every opportunity will be commercially sound. And not every lesson will apply to your circumstances.

The value lies in working out which ones do.

So, as you move through the program and build your Playbook, I encourage you to keep returning to four things.

One idea.

One opportunity.

One lesson.

And one action.

Your idea might be an asset you have never viewed as part of your business: a landscape, a waterway, a seasonal activity, a production practice, a building no longer used for its original purpose, or knowledge that people outside agriculture would value.

Your opportunity is where that asset meets a real customer.

Not somebody who merely says the idea sounds wonderful. Somebody who values it enough to book, attend, stay, buy – or return.

Your lesson is that authenticity creates interest, but commercial discipline creates a business.

You need both.

And your action should be something specific that you can do within 30 days.

Speak to a potential customer. Test an experience with a small group. Calculate the true cost of delivery. Contact a complementary regional business. Check the planning, insurance or biosecurity requirements. Or put a simple offer in front of the market and see what happens.

It does not have to be enormous. In fact, it probably should not be.

Test before you build. Listen before you invest. Price before you promote. Partner where that makes sense.

And make sure the opportunity strengthens the life and business you want, rather than creating another enterprise that controls both.

This Summit asks you to turn your land, water and story into income.

I would add one more thing.

Do it in a way that keeps you in control.

In control of the experience. In control of the story. In control of the value being created. And, as far as any farmer can ever be, in greater control of your future.

The pressures confronting regional Australia are real.

But so is the opportunity.

The world wants authentic experiences. Australian agriculture has authenticity in abundance.

Our regions have the land. They have the water. They have the produce. They have the people. And they have the stories.

The task now is to bring those things together – to create enterprises that are profitable, experiences that are memorable and regions that are more resilient.

That is the reset for regional income.

And by the end of these two days, I hope each of you can say:

I have an idea worth testing.

I understand the opportunity it could create.

I have learned from those who have already travelled this road.

And I know the first action I will take when I get home.

Thank you.