SHAWNEE COUNTY MARKET

Shawnee County, Kansas Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Topeka, Auburn and Silver Lake buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Shawnee County by the Numbers

Shawnee County has 791 farms on 163,838 acres (about 207 acres each). Together they sold $51.7 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and cattle.

Orchards and vineyards here grow pecans, apples and peaches, and local fields produce pumpkins, sweet corn, potatoes and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 773 honey bee colonies.

56 farms in Shawnee County already sell straight to the public, about $378,000 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 Shawnee County

Shawnee County farms and homesteads keep 10,377 head of cattle, 3,511 egg-laying hens and 745 goats. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,419 people run or help run farms in Shawnee County, with an average age of 59. 37% of them are women. 96 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 Shawnee County stands out: it ranks #2 of 64 KS counties for honey bee colonies and #9 of 99 KS counties for egg-laying hens.