PIERRE, SD – A growing niche market in South Dakota gained more support in the latest South Dakota legislative session.
Agritourism is an activity carried out on ranches and farms that allows members of the general public to view or participate in agricultural activities for recreational, entertainment, and/or educational purposes such as, historical, cultural, harvest-your-own, or nature-based activities and attractions.
Some of those activites carry a certain degree of liability. Governor Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 135 into law that paves the way to strengthen liability language for some agritourism activities in South Dakota.
“Agritourism is a developing and growing niche activity in our state that brings together the two most powerful industries in South Dakota, agriculture and tourism,” said James Hagen, secretary of the Department of Tourism.
“This law strengthens the ability for agritourism to operate more effectively by providing stronger liability protection for commercial agritourism operators. Agritourism benefits South Dakotans by diversifying farm and ranch operations, generating additional revenue for those operations, and provides educational and authentic experiences for people visiting our state.”
He continued, “The Department of Tourism was eager to bring together a workgroup to review ways we could strengthen agritourism laws in our state to spur growth in this industry.”
According to the secretary, “This legislation provides the protection our agritourism partners need in order to provide farm and ranch experiences that are such a special part of our state’s heritage. We can’t wait to see how agritourism ventures grow in the years to come as a result of this bill.”
Research by the South Dakota Department of Tourism indicates that 87% of consumers said they were interested in experiencing agritourism activities in South Dakota.
Effective July 1, SB135 strengthens liability protection for commercial agritourism operators. Read the bill in its entirety here.
