GASTON COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Gastonia, Alexis and Cramerton buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Watch for local strawberries when it comes into season in North Carolina. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Gaston County by the Numbers

Gaston County has 412 farms on 36,859 acres (about 89 acres each). Together they sold $26.9 million of farm products in 2022, led by poultry & eggs, soybeans and fruit & nuts.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, peaches and apples, and local fields produce pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes and cantaloupes. Beekeepers tend about 386 honey bee colonies.

47 farms in Gaston County already sell straight to the public, about $2.9 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 Gaston County

Gaston County farms and homesteads keep 7,309 head of cattle, 1,601 egg-laying hens and 692 horses and ponies. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 724 people run or help run farms in Gaston County, with an average age of 59. 37% of them are women. 77 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 17 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Gaston County stands out: it ranks #5 of 89 NC counties for selling food straight to the public.