CLAY COUNTY MARKET

Clay County, Iowa Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Dickens, Everly and Royal buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Fruit, vegetables, cottage foods, plants, seeds and farm gear are all welcome. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Clay County by the Numbers

Clay County has 730 farms on 306,922 acres (about 420 acres each). Together they sold $460.4 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, hogs and poultry & eggs.

Local fields produce pumpkins, squash and watermelons. Beekeepers tend about 119 honey bee colonies.

9 farms in Clay County already sell straight to the public, about $93,000 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 Clay County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Clay County counts 524,729 egg-laying hens, 193,903 hogs and 20,694 head of cattle. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 1,216 people run or help run farms in Clay County, with an average age of 59. 33% of them are women. 127 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 3 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Clay County stands out: it ranks #2 of 74 IA counties for egg-laying hens.