FORREST COUNTY MARKET

Forrest County, Mississippi Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Hattiesburg, and Petal buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Mississippi favorites like blueberries and muscadines show up here when they're in season. Listing is free and you keep 100% of every local sale.

Farming in Forrest County by the Numbers

Forrest County has 302 farms on 30,551 acres (about 101 acres each). Together they sold $16.6 million of farm products in 2022, led by poultry & eggs, cattle and hay & other field crops.

Orchards and vineyards here grow peaches, pears and plums, and local fields produce watermelons, tomatoes, okra and sweet corn. Beekeepers tend about 3,393 honey bee colonies.

38 farms in Forrest County already sell straight to the public, about $33,000 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 Forrest County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 4,475 head of cattle, 1,484 egg-laying hens and 561 goats in Forrest County. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 540 people run or help run farms in Forrest County, with an average age of 57. 43% of them are women. 47 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 Forrest County stands out: it ranks #2 of 64 MS counties for honey bee colonies.