BUREAU COUNTY MARKET

Bureau County, Illinois Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Arlington, Buda and Depue buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Bureau County by the Numbers

Bureau County has 1,138 farms on 455,336 acres (about 400 acres each). Together they sold $564.6 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and hogs.

Orchards and vineyards here grow walnuts, apples and chestnuts, and local fields produce green beans, sweet corn, watermelons and potatoes. Beekeepers tend about 245 honey bee colonies.

52 farms in Bureau County already sell straight to the public, about $449,000 a year in direct sales. Crop Market gives them, and every backyard grower, a free way to reach more neighbors.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2022 Census of Agriculture.

Farm Life in Bureau County

Bureau County farms and homesteads keep 128,277 egg-laying hens, 69,875 hogs and 7,520 head of cattle. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 1,854 people run or help run farms in Bureau County, with an average age of 59. 26% of them are women. 151 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 5 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Bureau County stands out: it ranks #1 of 90 IL counties for egg-laying hens and #6 of 102 IL counties for total farm sales.