Farming has deep roots in Alberta. From potatoes to corn, wheat to carrots, it’s a massive industry powering the province.
But over the years, a lot of people have migrated away from the fields into large urban centres.
This decades-coming separation has berthed a rising industry — agritourism.
“People are really hungry to find something authentic and basically leave the city and learn about farming,” said Arden Delidais, co-owner of DNA Gardens in Elnora, Alta., near Red Deer.
She has been farming for decades, but she and her husband chose to open their farm to visitors wanting to learn more about the land.
“Farmers take a lot for granted and we need to share that information back to the urban people.”
The small, locally owned farm recently held a town hall event to help other farmers enter the agritourism industry, because it’s a booming operation.
“We estimate there are between 3,000 and 5,000 farms across Alberta that are currently offering some sort of agritourism activity,” said Tam Andersen, president of Agritourism Alberta.
Andersen also operated Prairie Gardens in Bon Accord, north of Edmonton, and she’s already experiencing the same demand as Delidais.
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“We have people inquiring already for our Fairy Berry Festival, which is not until August. (People are also) looking for our pumpkin tickets, which are not until October,” said Andersen.
This all comes as Alberta is fresh off a record-breaking 2025, where visitors spent more than $15 billion in the province.
“Our travellers are also becoming more savvy. They want to know where their food comes from — they want to understand that process,” said Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge.
The growth of the agritourism industry has been so substantial, the Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association recently rebranded into the aforementioned Agritourism Alberta.
“The Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association is an association in its 40th season and we’re just reflecting consumer demand and what our members are actually offering to the public. It was an easy segue for us to rebrand,” said Andersen.
While thousands of farms are directly benefiting, other industries are also feeling the positive knock-on effects.
“It’s always so interesting to see what the ripple effect is. When you start with primary agriculture and you add value to that — proposition, so you’re making jams and pies, perhaps you’re having on-farm dinners, then you add tourism on top, now we have farmers participating in the visitor economy.”
That’s not lost on tourism experts, like Crane, who says ongoing efforts are helping bridge the gap between industries in a new way.
“That’s one of the big stories we’ve been telling through an initiative called Savour Alberta South, is that connection between producers, between restaurants, between processors. It’s a unique dynamic,” said Crane.
During National Tourism Week, Crane says it’s a great time to highlight all these efforts, and more, being done to contribute to the multi-billion-dollar boom that is tourism.
However, with some places like Lethbridge seeing increased traffic but flat sales last year, she says the work isn’t done.
“The agri-food tourism, Indigenous tourism, all of these things are attractive to travellers. They’re coming in — we just need to align the visitor economy to really figure out how we get (tourists) to stay longer.”
However, each and every tourist who enters the province can make a big difference for those involved in the industry and for the new Agritourism Alberta, the future is certainly looking bright.
“We thrive as a small, local farm on people coming and supporting us directly,” said Andersen.
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