Agriculture and Agribusiness in Union County is a large diversified industry involving the production of livestock, poultry, and crops along with the processing, transportaion, and service industries related to that production.

Of the 408,960 acres making up Union County, approximately 167,370 acres exist as farms. Of this acreage 102,500 acres are harvested cropland, 37,000 exist as hay crops and pasture, 734 acres in commercial horticulture, with the remaining 27,145 acres in managed woodlands or wastelands. The NC Forest Service reports an additional 11,605 acres of managed woodlands and a total of 178,000 forested acres.

Poultry production, which encompasses broilers, market turkeys, quail, table eggs, and hatching eggs, is the largest individual sector of the agricultural commodities. In 1997, income from poultry was responsible for $239,119,000 at the farm level. Livestock which includes income from the sale of hogs, beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, goats, horses and livestock products such as milk and wool, contributed an additional $15,045,000. Horticultural income, i.e. vegetables and berries, fruits and greenhouse crops added $11,040,082. Field crops which comprise 62,000 acres of soybeans including double-cropped beans, 40,000 acres of wheat, 28,000 acres of corn and 8,000 acres of cotton produced farm level income of $53,853,000 in 1997. Totaling all farm level income, Union County produced $308,017,000. This places Union County third in the state out of 100 counties in agricultural income. A typical farm in Union County averages 161 acres with an average value of land, buildings, machinery, and equipment of $591,453.