AVERY COUNTY MARKET

Avery County, North Carolina Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 This is the Avery County page of Crop Market, a free online farmers market in North Carolina for Banner Elk, Crossnore and and Pineola. 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 Avery County by the Numbers

Avery County has 335 farms on 22,598 acres (about 67 acres each). Together they sold $25.9 million of farm products in 2022, led by Christmas trees, nursery & greenhouse plants and vegetables.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes and apples, and local fields produce pumpkins, potatoes, cabbage and broccoli. Beekeepers tend about 37 honey bee colonies.

18 farms in Avery County already sell straight to the public, about $2.6 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 Avery County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Avery County counts 1,014 egg-laying hens, 783 head of cattle and 125 horses and ponies. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 657 people run or help run farms in Avery County, with an average age of 58. 30% of them are women. 57 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 8 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Avery County stands out: it ranks #6 of 89 NC counties for selling food straight to the public.