WHITESIDE COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Albany, Deer Grove and Galt buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Illinois favorites like apples and honey show up here when they're in season. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Whiteside County by the Numbers

Whiteside County has 1,005 farms on 335,899 acres (about 334 acres each). Together they sold $453 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and hogs.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples and grapes, and local fields produce green peas, sweet corn, pumpkins and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 298 honey bee colonies.

46 farms in Whiteside County already sell straight to the public, about $680,000 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 Whiteside County

Whiteside County farms and homesteads keep 125,022 egg-laying hens, 83,395 hogs and 20,292 head of cattle. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 1,613 people run or help run farms in Whiteside County, with an average age of 57. 29% of them are women. 191 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 Whiteside County stands out: it ranks #2 of 90 IL counties for egg-laying hens and #12 of 102 IL counties for total farm sales.