MADISON COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 This is the Madison County page of Crop Market, a free online farmers market in Illinois for Alhambra, Alton and Dorsey. Fruit, vegetables, cottage foods, plants, seeds and farm gear are all welcome. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Madison County by the Numbers

Madison County has 962 farms on 264,765 acres (about 275 acres each). Together they sold $221.7 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and wheat.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, grapes and peaches, and local fields produce horseradish, sweet corn, pumpkins and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 178 honey bee colonies.

52 farms in Madison County already sell straight to the public, about $1 million 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 Madison County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 8,160 head of cattle, 2,219 egg-laying hens and 668 sheep in Madison County. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,689 people run or help run farms in Madison County, with an average age of 58. 32% of them are women. 134 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 8 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Madison County stands out: it ranks #13 of 93 IL counties for selling food straight to the public and #18 of 94 IL counties for goats.