AROOSTOOK COUNTY MARKET

Aroostook County, Maine Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Ashland, Benedicta and Easton buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. 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 Aroostook County by the Numbers

Aroostook County has 720 farms on 305,052 acres (about 424 acres each). Together they sold $291.1 million of farm products in 2022, led by vegetables, cattle and dairy (milk).

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, pears and grapes, and local fields produce beets, squash, turnips and sweet corn. Beekeepers tend about 89 honey bee colonies.

110 farms in Aroostook County already sell straight to the public, about $1.3 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 Aroostook County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Aroostook County counts 7,042 head of cattle, 4,198 egg-laying hens and 1,807 sheep. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,334 people run or help run farms in Aroostook County, with an average age of 55. 34% of them are women. 155 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 Aroostook County stands out: it ranks #1 of 16 ME counties for number of farms and #1 of 16 ME counties for total farm sales.