(NDAgConnection.com) – Over 17,000 farms in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota produced and sold food locally through direct marketing practices, resulting in $577 million in revenue in 2020, according to the Local Food Marketing Practices Survey results released today by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The results cover both fresh and value-added foods, such as meat and cheese.

The more than 3,800 farms that sold food directly to institutions and intermediates brought in the most revenue at $317 million; this was followed by operations with direct-to-consumer sales, such as on-farm stores and farmers markets, at $166 million. Sales directly to retailers accounted for $93.6 million.

Approximately 35,900 people were involved in making decisions for the farms that sold directly in 2020. Of these, 55% were men and 45% were women- a higher proportion of women than among all farms, according to data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture.