SUMTER COUNTY MARKET

Sumter County, Alabama Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Bellamy, Coatopa and Gainesville buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Sumter County by the Numbers

Sumter County has 346 farms on 204,698 acres (about 592 acres each). Together they sold $20.2 million of farm products in 2022, led by cattle, aquaculture and hay & other field crops.

Orchards and vineyards here grow pears, pawpaws and persimmons, and local fields produce sweet potatoes, okra and bell peppers. Beekeepers tend about 14 honey bee colonies.

6 farms in Sumter County already sell straight to the public, about $27,000 a year in direct sales. Crop Market gives them, and every backyard grower, a free way to reach more neighbors.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2022 Census of Agriculture.

Farm Life in Sumter County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Sumter County counts 21,549 head of cattle, 3,678 hogs and 339 egg-laying hens. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 585 people run or help run farms in Sumter County, with an average age of 60. 31% of them are women. 42 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 10 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.