GEM COUNTY MARKET

Gem County, Idaho Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 This is the Gem County page of Crop Market, a free online farmers market in Idaho for Montour, Ola and and Sweet. Homemade jams, breads and honey are listed right next to fresh produce and seedlings. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Gem County by the Numbers

Gem County has 718 farms on 199,547 acres (about 278 acres each). Together they sold $37.9 million of farm products in 2022, led by cattle, hay & other field crops and corn.

Orchards and vineyards here grow sweet cherries, peaches and pears, and local fields produce carrots, radishes, sweet corn and pumpkins. Beekeepers tend about 229 honey bee colonies.

88 farms in Gem County already sell straight to the public, about $737,000 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 Gem County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Gem County counts 16,043 head of cattle, 4,359 sheep and 2,622 egg-laying hens. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 1,302 people run or help run farms in Gem County, with an average age of 57. 44% of them are women. 75 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 1 farm earns money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Gem County stands out: it ranks #7 of 39 ID counties for selling food straight to the public and #7 of 39 ID counties for egg-laying hens.