SWAIN COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Almond, Bryson City and and Cherokee 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 Swain County by the Numbers

Swain County has 70 farms on 3,930 acres (about 56 acres each). Together they sold $1.3 million of farm products in 2022, led by cattle, horses and hay & other field crops.

Local fields produce green beans.

10 farms in Swain County already sell straight to the public, about $45,000 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 Swain County

Livestock is part of daily life here: the 2022 farm census found 262 horses and ponies, 254 head of cattle and 219 egg-laying hens in Swain County. Hay, tack and horse boarding are common listings in horse country.

About 143 people run or help run farms in Swain County, with an average age of 57. 36% of them are women. 22 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 6 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.