CHOUTEAU COUNTY MARKET

Chouteau County, Montana Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

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

Farming in Chouteau County by the Numbers

Chouteau County has 687 farms on 2,359,276 acres (about 3,434 acres each). Together they sold $213.8 million of farm products in 2022, led by wheat, cattle and barley.

Beekeepers tend about 9 honey bee colonies.

4 farms in Chouteau County already sell straight to the public, about $94,000 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 Chouteau County

Chouteau County farms and homesteads keep 33,127 head of cattle, 595 horses and ponies and 423 goats. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,311 people run or help run farms in Chouteau County, with an average age of 57. 34% of them are women. 118 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 24 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Chouteau County stands out: it ranks #1 of 56 MT counties for total farm sales and #9 of 56 MT counties for number of farms.