DANE COUNTY MARKET

Dane County, Wisconsin Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Dane County has more backyard fruit trees and home gardens than anyone could eat from. Crop Market connects them with neighbors in Madison, Belleville and Cottage Grove. Wisconsin favorites like cherries and sweet corn show up here when they're in season. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Dane County by the Numbers

Dane County has 2,284 farms on 449,464 acres (about 197 acres each). Together they sold $653.4 million of farm products in 2022, led by dairy (milk), corn and cattle.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, grapes and chestnuts, and local fields produce sweet corn, pumpkins, tomatoes and squash. Beekeepers tend about 2,432 honey bee colonies.

249 farms in Dane County already sell straight to the public, about $10.9 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 Dane County

Dane County farms and homesteads keep 125,194 head of cattle, 7,194 hogs and 2,670 sheep. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 4,098 people run or help run farms in Dane County, with an average age of 59. 37% of them are women. 378 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 29 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Dane County stands out: it ranks #1 of 72 WI counties for number of farms and #1 of 69 WI counties for selling food straight to the public.