Farmers looking to sell to their communities, families who want to support them or someone who just likes perusing tents of sunflowers and produce on Saturday mornings have plenty of opportunities in the Great Lakes area.
Half of the top 10 states with the greatest number of farmers markets are in the Great Lakes region, according to the 2010 USDA National Farmers Market Directory.
The directory released last month shows 6,132 farmers markets across the country. Many of the highest totals belong to Great Lake states.
Illinois has the most markets in the region with 286. It ranks third nationally behind only New York and California. It is followed by Michigan which ranks fourth nationally with 271 markets, Ohio which ranks seventh with 213, Wisconsin at eighth with 204 and Pennsylvania ninth with 203.