CALHOUN COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Batchtown, Golden Eagle and Meppen buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Fruit, vegetables, cottage foods, plants, seeds and farm gear are all welcome. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Calhoun County by the Numbers

Calhoun County has 462 farms on 106,067 acres (about 230 acres each). Together they sold $46.3 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and fruit & nuts.

Orchards and vineyards here grow peaches, and local fields produce tomatoes and pumpkins. Beekeepers tend about 33 honey bee colonies.

26 farms in Calhoun County already sell straight to the public, about $363,000 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 Calhoun County

Calhoun County farms and homesteads keep 4,785 head of cattle, 261 egg-laying hens and 110 sheep. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 866 people run or help run farms in Calhoun County, with an average age of 59. 30% of them are women. 36 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 13 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.