PARKE COUNTY MARKET

Parke County, Indiana Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 From Bloomingdale to Montezuma, Parke County gardeners, small farms and home cooks post their extra harvest here for people nearby. 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 Parke County by the Numbers

Parke County has 646 farms on 174,867 acres (about 271 acres each). Together they sold $135.8 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and dairy (milk).

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, and local fields produce sweet corn, pumpkins, squash and watermelons. Beekeepers tend about 152 honey bee colonies.

34 farms in Parke County already sell straight to the public, about $708,000 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 Parke County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 59,981 egg-laying hens, 8,372 head of cattle and 1,994 sheep in Parke County. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 1,132 people run or help run farms in Parke County, with an average age of 53. 32% of them are women. 206 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 Parke County stands out: it ranks #3 of 90 IN counties for goats and #9 of 78 IN counties for egg-laying hens.