UPSHUR COUNTY MARKET

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

🌽 Crop Market is a free online farmers market where neighbors in Big Sandy, Gilmer and and Ore City buy and sell food they grew, baked or raised. Fruit, vegetables, cottage foods, plants, seeds and farm gear are all welcome. It's free to post, there's no cut taken, and local farm food carries no sales tax.

Farming in Upshur County by the Numbers

Upshur County has 1,373 farms on 150,383 acres (about 110 acres each). Together they sold $84.7 million of farm products in 2022, led by poultry & eggs, cattle and dairy (milk).

Orchards and vineyards here grow grapes, apples and peaches, and local fields produce watermelons, tomatoes and bell peppers. Beekeepers tend about 655 honey bee colonies.

67 farms in Upshur County already sell straight to the public, about $310,000 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 Upshur County

Upshur County farms and homesteads keep 43,452 head of cattle, 5,174 egg-laying hens and 1,878 goats. Grass-fed beef sold by the quarter or half is a common way ranchers sell direct.

About 2,346 people run or help run farms in Upshur County, with an average age of 58. 43% of them are women. 205 are under 35 - the next generation of local growers. 8 farms earn money from agritourism - things like u-pick fields, pumpkin patches, farm stays and corn mazes.