Chris Eckert is the President and CEO of Eckert’s Country Store and Farms in Belleville, IL. Chris is a member of the seventh generation of Eckerts to farm in St. Clair County. Eckerts grows approximately 600 acres of fruit and vegetable crops and operates a farm market, restaurant, garden center and the largest pick your own fruit business in the country.
Chris has a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois. He started his career with Shaw’s Supermarkets in Boston, MA as a fruit buyer and then worked as production manager for Custom Cuts, a vegetable processing company, in Columbus, OH.
Chris is the Past President of the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce and the Belleville Rotary Club and serves on the board of Memorial Hospital.
Chris also serves the fruit industry as Board member of the Midwest Apple Improvement Association, Past President of the National Peach Council, and the Illinois State Horticulture Society and past Treasurer for the North American Raspberry Blackberry Association. He has advocated on behalf of the fruit industry for immigration reform both locally and nationally.
Chris is married to his high school sweet heart, Angie. Angie also works in the family business and serves as the Vice President of Retail Operations. They reside in a historic family home on their farm in Belleville with their children, daughter Ella and son Theo.