FAYETTE COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Buy local in Fayette County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Bingham, Brownstown and Saint Elmo. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Fayette County by the Numbers

Fayette County has 1,122 farms on 328,888 acres (about 293 acres each). Together they sold $247.3 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and cattle.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, and local fields produce pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 132 honey bee colonies.

15 farms in Fayette County already sell straight to the public, about $347,000 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 Fayette County

Fayette County farms and homesteads keep 22,959 hogs, 13,867 head of cattle and 7,178 egg-laying hens.

About 1,869 people run or help run farms in Fayette County, with an average age of 58. 27% of them are women. 135 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 4 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Fayette County stands out: it ranks #4 of 94 IL counties for goats and #10 of 90 IL counties for egg-laying hens.