HAMPDEN COUNTY MARKET

Hampden County, Massachusetts Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Buy local in Hampden County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Springfield, Chicopee and Chester. 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 Hampden County by the Numbers

Hampden County has 491 farms on 29,618 acres (about 60 acres each). Together they sold $26.6 million of farm products in 2022, led by vegetables, nursery & greenhouse plants and fruit & nuts.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, peaches and pears, and local fields produce squash, sweet corn, pumpkins and eggplant. Beekeepers tend about 2,027 honey bee colonies.

130 farms in Hampden County already sell straight to the public, about $4.3 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 Hampden County

Hampden County farms and homesteads keep 4,993 egg-laying hens, 1,490 head of cattle and 561 sheep. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 974 people run or help run farms in Hampden County, with an average age of 58. 41% of them are women. 75 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 17 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Hampden County stands out: it ranks #1 of 12 MA counties for honey bee colonies.