STORY COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Buy local in Story County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Ames, Cambridge and Huxley. Iowa favorites like sweet corn and apples show up here when they're in season. Listing is free and you keep 100% of every local sale.

Farming in Story County by the Numbers

Story County has 1,067 farms on 299,244 acres (about 280 acres each). Together they sold $386.1 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and hogs.

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, grapes and tart cherries, and local fields produce pumpkins, tomatoes, squash and potatoes. Beekeepers tend about 425 honey bee colonies.

64 farms in Story County already sell straight to the public, about $1.2 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 Story County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 104,732 hogs, 17,170 head of cattle and 8,958 egg-laying hens in Story County.

About 1,941 people run or help run farms in Story County, with an average age of 57. 34% of them are women. 203 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 12 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Story County stands out: it ranks #5 of 95 IA counties for selling food straight to the public and #11 of 93 IA counties for honey bee colonies.