WAKE COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Raleigh, Cary and Holly Springs buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Watch for local sweet potatoes when it comes into season in North Carolina. Posting an ad is free and sellers keep every dollar.

Farming in Wake County by the Numbers

Wake County has 664 farms on 62,323 acres (about 94 acres each). Together they sold $62.1 million of farm products in 2022, led by nursery & greenhouse plants, tobacco and vegetables.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, apples and pears, and local fields produce sweet potatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn and squash. Beekeepers tend about 831 honey bee colonies.

97 farms in Wake County already sell straight to the public, about $1.2 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 Wake County

Wake County farms and homesteads keep 5,171 egg-laying hens, 3,661 head of cattle and 1,238 horses and ponies. Fresh farm eggs are one of the easiest things to buy and sell locally.

About 1,270 people run or help run farms in Wake County, with an average age of 57. 34% of them are women. 151 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 30 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Wake County stands out: it ranks #9 of 90 NC counties for honey bee colonies and #19 of 92 NC counties for goats.