KENT COUNTY MARKET

Kent County, Michigan Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Kent County has more backyard fruit trees and home gardens than anyone could eat from. Crop Market connects them with neighbors in Grand Rapids, Kentwood and Byron Center. Watch for local asparagus when it comes into season in Michigan. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Kent County by the Numbers

Kent County has 1,049 farms on 144,000 acres (about 137 acres each). Together they sold $417.2 million of farm products in 2022, led by nursery & greenhouse plants, fruit & nuts and dairy (milk).

Orchards and vineyards here grow apples, peaches and sweet cherries, and local fields produce sweet corn, pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes. Beekeepers tend about 3,749 honey bee colonies.

171 farms in Kent County already sell straight to the public, about $13.9 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 Kent County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Kent County counts 105,208 turkeys, 21,803 head of cattle and 20,919 hogs.

About 1,885 people run or help run farms in Kent County, with an average age of 55. 34% of them are women. 188 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 37 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Kent County stands out: it ranks #3 of 81 MI counties for selling food straight to the public and #4 of 74 MI counties for honey bee colonies.