TAYLOR COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Bedford, Blockton and New Market 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 Taylor County by the Numbers

Taylor County has 596 farms on 296,690 acres (about 498 acres each). Together they sold $252.5 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, soybeans and hogs.

Local fields produce pumpkins, honeydew melons, watermelons and cantaloupes. Beekeepers tend about 243 honey bee colonies.

11 farms in Taylor County already sell straight to the public, about $62,000 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 Taylor County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 54,827 hogs, 27,268 head of cattle and 347 horses and ponies in Taylor County.

About 1,048 people run or help run farms in Taylor County, with an average age of 61. 35% of them are women. 59 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 7 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Taylor County stands out: it ranks #17 of 93 IA counties for honey bee colonies.