Illinois Locavore Overview

Illinois Locally Grown Product

There are plenty of seasonal Locavore opportunities to find exactly the fruit, vegetables, beef, lamb, poultry, wine or dairy products that you may be looking for. The 2007 USDA Farm Census reported that Illinois had approximately 78,860 farms and the average number of acres per farm was 348. Of those farms, 1,377 showed that they raised vegetables for sale, there were 871 orchards, 271 organic farms and 302 CSAs in the state.

Synopsis of 2007 USDA Ag census for Illinois

For more specific detail on what local fruits and vegetables are available (and when), please check out our Illinois availability guide.

 
How to find Illinois Growers and producers

To search our database for growers, producers and wineries near you, use one of these three methods:

1. Go to the Proximity search page. Enter the Zip code that you want to use as the basis for your search, enter the number of miles around the Zip code, click or unclick the business types you want to search for, then click the "Search' button. When the results appear, if you want more information about a specific business, you can click on the map marker and then the farm or business name within the information box.

If you would rather not enter a Zip code, you can enter a City and State name or a County and State name.

2. To see all of the Profiles within a specific State, go to the menu selection entitled "State Information" in the blue menu section at the top of the page. Scroll to your State name and as you move through the State names, you will see two menu choices appear to the right of your cursor. Click on the one that includes the words "Growers and Producers". When the list shows on your screen, you may sort by County name (click on the word "County"). If you are looking for a specific product such as Peaches or Beef or Honey, simply enter your search term in the appropriate box. For the Illinois Grower list, click on this link: Illinois Grower list .

3. Using the search box in the upper right hand corner of the screen, just enter the terms you wish to search for..there is no need to include a coma. As an example, if you want to find Peach growers in Illinois, just type in the words Peaches Illinois and click on the Search button.  There is no need to enter connecting words such as "and" or "in".

Additional Illinois Locavore information

Every state has a Cooperative Extension System. Regional offices offer location specific advice on a broad array of topics (including gardening), and may be able to provide you with contact information for growers who are not yet registered on our site. Most have gardening hotlines and offer informational fact sheets, soil testing and pest identification for free or a nominal cost. Often the help is provided by Master Gardeners who are trained to assist the agriculture agents with home gardener's needs. To find contact information for your local County Extension Office – Illinois County Extension Offices.

• If you would like to ask questions of fellow Illinois Locavores, discuss tips, share recipes, stories, pictures or any another great “Slow Food” discovery, please post it in our Illinois forum by clicking here: Illinois Locavore Forum
• State sponsored “Locally Grown” program - Illinois Product 
• Illinois County Fair Schedules – This link provides schedules for County Fairs within Illinois as well as many other local festivals – Illinois County Fairs