WALDO COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Belfast, Brooks and Islesboro 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 Waldo County by the Numbers

Waldo County has 469 farms on 54,547 acres (about 116 acres each). Together they sold $22.3 million of farm products in 2022, led by dairy (milk), hay & other field crops and vegetables.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, pears and grapes, and local fields produce sweet corn, squash, pumpkins and potatoes. Beekeepers tend about 274 honey bee colonies.

141 farms in Waldo County already sell straight to the public, about $1.7 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 Waldo County

Waldo County farms and homesteads keep 6,685 egg-laying hens, 5,109 head of cattle and 979 sheep. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 908 people run or help run farms in Waldo County, with an average age of 55. 45% of them are women. 85 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 4 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Waldo County stands out: it ranks #2 of 13 ME counties for egg-laying hens and #3 of 14 ME counties for honey bee colonies.