You know agritourism when you see it. And you see a lot of it in McHenry County, from farmers markets to pumpkin patches to Christmas tree farms.

Agritourism is big business in McHenry County and no small part of the $6.2 million in local tax revenue generated in the county last year, according to the McHenry County Convention & Visitors Bureau. But it has proved at times to be no small headache for the McHenry County Board because no definition of it exists in county ordinances. New agritourism operations have had to come in on conditional-use permits.

This quandary might end with the adoption of the county’s Unified Development Ordinance. More than two years in the making, the ordinance updates the county’s zoning, sign and other development-related ordinances and combines them into one document.