LAKE COUNTY MARKET

Lake County, Florida Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Altoona, Astatula and Eustis buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Fruit, vegetables, cottage foods, plants, seeds and farm gear are all welcome. Listing is free and you keep 100% of every local sale.

Farming in Lake County by the Numbers

Lake County has 1,569 farms on 162,773 acres (about 104 acres each). Together they sold $276.8 million of farm products in 2022, led by nursery & greenhouse plants, fruit & nuts and hay & other field crops.

Orchards and vineyards here grow oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, and local fields produce watermelons, broccoli, spinach and lettuce. Beekeepers tend about 17,883 honey bee colonies.

116 farms in Lake County already sell straight to the public, about $498,000 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 Lake County

Lake County farms and homesteads keep 25,550 head of cattle, 2,849 goats and 2,053 horses and ponies. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 2,882 people run or help run farms in Lake County, with an average age of 59. 43% of them are women. 228 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 30 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Lake County stands out: it ranks #1 of 62 FL counties for goats and #4 of 61 FL counties for honey bee colonies.