Given the increasing number of people I see at our local farmers market, my perception has been the popularity of farmers markets has been growing steadily during the past decade. Well, fresh data from USDA confirms that as the number of farmers markets grew a staggering 16% in one year between 2009 and 2010 to a total of 6,132 at the end of 2010. That is an average of nearly 123 markets per state.

Here are the Top 10 states with the most farmers markets in 2010 per the USDA:

California – 580 New York – 461 Illinois – 286 Michigan – 271 Iowa – 229 Massachusetts – 227 Ohio – 213 Wisconsin – 204 Pennsylvania – 203 North Carolina – 182

Here are the Top 10 states with the most new farmers markets in 2010 per the USDA:

Missouri – 77 Minnesota – 61 Idaho – 60 Michigan – 60 Indiana – 47 South Dakota – 46 Arkansas – 41 Washington – 37 Ohio – 36 Oklahoma – 31