Scarcity to Abundance with Agriculture: Past, Present & Possibilities

Agriculture has been an integral part of the history, culture, growth, and vitality of Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties. As we look to the future, how can we ensure that agriculture’s benefits continue?

Almost a year ago, The Patterson Foundation set out to examine the past and present of agriculture in the four-county area with a goal of increasing its positive impact on the region’s future generations.

We spoke with restaurateurs and farmers, economic development experts and educators, nonprofit leaders, and historians to get the lay of the land (pun intended) and discover both the challenges faced by people working in the field (pun intended) and the opportunities they see for the future of agriculture in the area.

There are a lot of challenges. For decades, the amount of land in the area devoted to agriculture has been steadily decreasing. People interested in starting a new agricultural enterprise face increasingly expensive land prices and difficulty finding start-up capital. It is also time- and resource-intensive for local producers to sell directly to consumers, or to find local institutional buyers willing to work with a smaller producer.

Despite that, there are also many bright spots, including educational efforts like The Farm operated by Sarasota County Schools on 40 acres of land adjacent to McIntosh Middle, or the Small Farm Start-up School in Sarasota and Manatee counties, run by UF/IFAS. 

Selling directly to consumers can be more lucrative for producers, and people want to buy local food, as long as the process is simple. To make this easier at both ends of the value chain, some farmers have gathered together to market and sell their products as a group more efficiently and effectively to local consumers.

Politicians across the region have expressed verbal and financial support for agriculture in their communities, and there is a growing movement of “food as medicine” focused on the positive benefits of local ingredients, which can be significantly more nutrient-rich than supermarket produce.

Now, TPF is excited to bring together the people and organizations we spoke to in our discovery phase with others who are passionate about local agriculture for a special lunch on Thursday, November 19, called Seeding the Future.

Dr. David Himmelgreen, Director of USF’s Center for the Advancement of Food Security and Healthy Communities, will deliver a keynote address on how a healthy food system can affect a community. We’ll also share what we learned from dozens of interviews with agriculture experts and stakeholders across the region, then engage with attendees to help us identify shared aspirations for the future.

Though it might appear that our region is slipping towards scarcity, through widespread participation we have the opportunity to achieve abundance.