State Department of Agriculture Program: Illinois

State Department of Agriculture of Illinois
According to the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS), as of February 2017, Illinois had 72,200 farms.  Illinois farmland covers nearly 27 million acres — about 75 percent of the state’s total land area. The large number of farms, coupled with the diversity of commodities produced, makes it difficult to describe a typical operation. However, statistics provide some indication about what it means to farm in Illinois.
https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/agr/Pages/default.aspx
Buy Illinois: Let’s encourage every Illinois household to dedicate $10 of their existing weekly budget to the purchase of Illinois products. If each of the 4.7 million Illinois households dedicates just $10 per week to buy Illinois Products, more than $47 million would be generated for the Illinois economy in one week! This will provide a tremendous boost to local Illinois companies — many of which are owned by your friends and neighbors.
https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/agr/Consumers/BuyIllinoisChallenge/Pages/default.aspx

Core Customers:  Retail and Food Service
Illinois is home to a number of important customers who are ideal to look at for distribution.  These include Leaps and Bounds, Ulta, Follett’s, Lemstone’s, Clubs of America, YMCA, Dick Blick’s, Glik Stores, Big Dollar, Island Creek, Ruckers Candy, Walgreen’s, Big R Stores, Rural King, Farm King, Quincy Farm and Home, Bally’s, Tennis Corp of America, Amcon Distributing, Butera Fine Foods, Jewell Osco, Dominick’s, Niemann Foods, Topco Grocery, Central Grocers Coop, Certified Grocers, Dearborn Wholesale Grocers, DPI, Eby Brown, McLane, Ace Hardware, True Serv, Distribution America, Sears / K-Mart, Dik Drug, Kehe/Tree of Life, Fruitful Yield, Uline, Warehouse Direct, Quill, Spiegel, The Pampered Chef, Aldi, Market Day, Claire’s Stores, Peapod Inc, EthnicGrocer.com, Treasure Island, Whole Foods, Kerasote’s Theatres, Gold Medal, Par’s Ice Cream, Chuck E Cheese, Cosi, Big Apple Bagels, My Favorite Muffin, Brunswick Bowl, Lane Hospitality, Hyatt Hotels, Kemper Golf, Quest Food Service Mgmt, Preferred Meal Systems, Hostmark Hospitality, Super One Stores, Aurelio’s Pizza, Nancy’s Pizza, Aramark, Compass, Sodexo, Classic Cinemas, McDonald’s, Nova Cinemas, Rosati’s Pizza, The Great American Bagel, Swissotel, Strategic Hotels and Resorts, Giordano’s, Pepe’s, Morton’s Steakhouse, Levy’s Restaurants, Flying Food Group, Potbelly, Kerasotes Theatres, Sagemark, Whitey’s Ice Cream, Canteen, Eurest Dining, Biaggi’s, Jimmy John’s, La Bamba