MANATEE COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Buy local in Manatee County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Braden River, Anna Maria and Cortez. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. Listing is free and you keep 100% of every local sale.

Farming in Manatee County by the Numbers

Manatee County has 692 farms on 219,316 acres (about 317 acres each). Together they sold $321.8 million of farm products in 2022, led by vegetables, nursery & greenhouse plants and fruit & nuts.

Orchards and vineyards here grow oranges, lemons and limes, and local fields produce green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and squash. Beekeepers tend about 13,025 honey bee colonies.

31 farms in Manatee County already sell straight to the public, about $98,000 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 Manatee County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 38,973 head of cattle, 3,938 egg-laying hens and 985 horses and ponies in Manatee County. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,287 people run or help run farms in Manatee County, with an average age of 60. 41% of them are women. 79 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 17 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Manatee County stands out: it ranks #6 of 61 FL counties for honey bee colonies and #7 of 67 FL counties for total farm sales.