Recommended
Farm and agritourism sites worth reading
The official farm and agritourism sources we check ourselves, kept short on purpose. A person picks every entry and writes it up.
Official sources
Agencies, regulators and the organizations that publish the rules and the data. We use these ourselves. None of them asked to be listed and none of them link back to us.
USDA Local Food Directories
usdalocalfoodportal.com
The official directories of farmers markets, on-farm markets, CSAs and food hubs, kept by the Agricultural Marketing Service. Listings are maintained by the operators themselves, so the hours tend to be more reliable than most.
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
nass.usda.gov
Crop reports, county level production figures and the Census of Agriculture. This is where the numbers everyone quotes about American farming actually come from, and all of it is free to download.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
nrcs.usda.gov
Conservation programs, cost share and technical help for working land. If you farm, graze or manage woodland, the local NRCS office will walk your ground with you at no charge, which is the part most people do not know.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
planthardiness.ars.usda.gov
The zone map every seed catalog and nursery label refers to, rebuilt in 2023. Type in a zip code and it returns the zone, which is the single most useful number for deciding what will survive a winter where you are.
USDA Web Soil Survey
websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov
Draw a boundary on a map and get the soil types under it, rated for septic suitability, building foundations and what will grow. Free, detailed, and the answer to most of the questions a raw parcel raises.
Run a site we should know about?
We read everything that comes in. Independent sites about farm and agritourism only, and a person writes the description, so there is no need to send us one.
Add your siteWe link to these sites because we think they are useful. None of them paid for a place here, and nobody can buy one. If a site stops being worth reading, it comes off this page.
