LEELANAU COUNTY MARKET

Leelanau County, Michigan Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Cedar, Empire and Maple City buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Watch for local cherries when it comes into season in Michigan. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Leelanau County by the Numbers

Leelanau County has 500 farms on 57,189 acres (about 114 acres each). Together they sold $58.1 million of farm products in 2022, led by fruit & nuts, nursery & greenhouse plants and cattle.

Orchards and vineyards here grow tart cherries, sweet cherries and grapes, and local fields produce asparagus, sweet corn, pumpkins and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 2,245 honey bee colonies.

132 farms in Leelanau County already sell straight to the public, about $5.7 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 Leelanau County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Leelanau County counts 2,549 egg-laying hens, 1,581 head of cattle and 854 hogs. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 983 people run or help run farms in Leelanau County, with an average age of 57. 39% of them are women. 84 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 20 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Leelanau County stands out: it ranks #7 of 81 MI counties for selling food straight to the public and #11 of 74 MI counties for honey bee colonies.