BLADEN COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Bladenboro, Clarkton and Kelly buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. 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 Bladen County by the Numbers

Bladen County has 423 farms on 146,195 acres (about 346 acres each). Together they sold $616 million of farm products in 2022, led by hogs, poultry & eggs and fruit & nuts.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, pecans and peaches, and local fields produce watermelons, sweet corn, cucumbers and potatoes. Beekeepers tend about 188 honey bee colonies.

38 farms in Bladen County already sell straight to the public, about $846,000 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 Bladen County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Bladen County counts 688,866 hogs, 396,541 turkeys and 4,358 head of cattle.

About 758 people run or help run farms in Bladen County, with an average age of 59. 29% of them are women. 35 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 11 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Bladen County stands out: it ranks #5 of 98 NC counties for total farm sales.