BELL COUNTY MARKET

Bell County, Texas Farmers Market — Buy & Sell Local Crops Near You

🌽 Buy local in Bell County: fruit, vegetables, honey, baked goods, plants and livestock from people in Temple, Harker Heights and Killeen. Watch for local citrus when it comes into season in Texas. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Bell County by the Numbers

Bell County has 2,330 farms on 496,484 acres (about 213 acres each). Together they sold $90.1 million of farm products in 2022, led by corn, cattle and sheep & goats.

Orchards and vineyards here grow pecans, grapes and peaches, and local fields produce tomatoes, potatoes, cantaloupes and cucumbers. Beekeepers tend about 1,654 honey bee colonies.

119 farms in Bell County already sell straight to the public, about $1.1 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 Bell County

Out in the pastures and barnyards, Bell County counts 51,483 head of cattle, 9,643 goats and 8,730 egg-laying hens. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 4,124 people run or help run farms in Bell County, with an average age of 61. 41% of them are women. 203 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 37 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.

Where Bell County stands out: it ranks #16 of 241 TX counties for goats and #20 of 254 TX counties for number of farms.