WATAUGA COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Buy local in Watauga County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Blowing Rock, Boone and and Zionville. Watch for local sweet potatoes 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 Watauga County by the Numbers

Watauga County has 400 farms on 29,402 acres (about 74 acres each). Together they sold $13.2 million of farm products in 2022, led by Christmas trees, cattle and horses.

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, apples and pawpaws, and local fields produce pumpkins, green beans, potatoes and sweet corn. Beekeepers tend about 133 honey bee colonies.

53 farms in Watauga County already sell straight to the public, about $1.9 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 Watauga County

Watauga County farms and homesteads keep 5,103 head of cattle, 1,462 egg-laying hens and 526 sheep. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 642 people run or help run farms in Watauga County, with an average age of 60. 32% of them are women. 62 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 Watauga County stands out: it ranks #10 of 89 NC counties for selling food straight to the public.