MONTEREY COUNTY MARKET

Monterey County, California Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Buy local in Monterey County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Salinas, Carmel and Carmel Valley. Watch for local honey when it comes into season in California. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Monterey County by the Numbers

Monterey County has 1,057 farms on 1,338,477 acres (about 1,266 acres each). Together they sold $5.5 billion of farm products in 2022, led by vegetables, fruit & nuts and nursery & greenhouse plants.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, lemons and olives, and local fields produce lettuce, broccoli, spinach and cauliflower. Beekeepers tend about 1,089 honey bee colonies.

79 farms in Monterey County already sell straight to the public, about $12 million 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 Monterey County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Monterey County counts 50,420 head of cattle, 4,708 egg-laying hens and 1,361 horses and ponies. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 2,047 people run or help run farms in Monterey County, with an average age of 60. 30% of them are women. 119 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 44 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Monterey County stands out: it ranks #3 of 56 CA counties for total farm sales.