Unforgettable Farm Tours
Happy Spring - It’s been a while since I shared my last blog post and life has been in full swing!
Last week I had the honor of being invited to learn all about Florida agriculture and tour 4 family-owned farms in North Florida with Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association and our amazing sponsors Fresh from Florida and Agriculture Communicators of Florida. As a colorful food lover, it was such an incredibly eye-opening and immersive experience.
We spent three days in St. Augustine which is about 5 hours away from where I live in South Florida. After arriving on our first day, we had a delicious meal at The Floridian. I’m in the third trimester of my pregnancy and it’s safe to say that Baby Sonubi and I enjoyed every bite! It was great to meet the amazing FFVA team, fellow food content creators and dietitians, before we embarked on our upcoming farm tours the next day.
The amount of information, photographs and takeaways that I took in on day two of our #FFVAFarmTour was awe-inspiring as we visited four family-owned farms that have been family-owned for multiple generations. Seeing the passion and dedication that went into growing, harvesting, preparing and packaging specialty crops like kale, broccoli, potatoes, and cabbage was empowering to see as a consumer. Overseeing this process and even getting to harvest my own potatoes (I picked 10 lbs of potatoes to be exact!) made me really appreciate all the work that goes into getting our food into grocers, our homes and bellies. I will never forget our guides at each farm and how they generously shared their stories with us, while helping address our questions along each stop. Not to mention the colorful and mouth-water 4-course lunch that Chef Justin prepared for us in between our jam packed farm tour day! I highly recommend following @FreshfromFlorida on social media to try out the appetizing recipes that Chef Justin shares weekly. Many thanks to Adam Lytch of L&M Farms, Eric Hjort of Tater Farms, Danny Johns of Blue Sky Farms and Tara Smith of Smith’s Farms for sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience with us!
Our final day of our #FFVAFarmTour started with tours led by Prissy Fletcher, Chris Vivian and Wendy Lynch at the UF/IFAS Hastings Agricultural Extension Center. It was honorable to learn more about how they work to provide small family farms with solutions to the common problems they’re facing, which can support them in preventing the major loss that can come from unsuccessful harvests. 75% of the research they conduct is on potatoes, which is a major specialty crop in Florida. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or had so many potatoes in my life after our tours!
UF/IFAS Hastings Agricultural Extension Center is currently learning how to grow artichokes and strawberries from California to reduce their carbon footprint, cut costs, and increase freshness. The trials that they conduct usually last 90 days and go up to 115 days. I loved that one of their goals is to be able to produce potatoes and strawberries throughout the year to fill the season gaps in the market. My favorite part of this tour stop was harvesting my first artichoke! Afterwards we visited L&M Farm Packing House to see their process of preparing produce to reach major distributors like Target, Winn Dixie, Publix, Costco, Walmart, Wholefoods and more. While there we saw how different grocers prefer to white label their packaging and opt to have their own labels like Good & Gather at Target instead of L&M. After touring, we had a really insightful panel on the state of Florida Agriculture and how much buying power we have as consumers. One of the talking points that stood out most was how buying Florida grown produce really makes a difference for a healthy lifestyle and supporting our local economy. Before we all departed, we had a fabulous feast made with fresh potatoes, cabbage and kale from L&M Farm. The entire #FFVAFarmTour experience was a life changer for me and learning how our food grows truly gave me a deeper appreciation for the food I consume.
Here are 3 key takeaways from our farm tours:
Buying produce in season is essential! Florida produce takes anywhere from 24-72 hours from harvest to stores and has a much shorter cycle in the length it takes from farm to table than international/out of state produce. Seasonal produce is fresher, tastier, and more nutritious overall when picked at its peak ripeness so it’s best to buy local, in season produce whenever possible. I enjoyed seeing firsthand how broccoli is grown, harvested, prepared, and packaged at Smith’s Farms to reach our plates within a day or two. The whole process was so fascinating, especially seeing huge pallets of broccoli take a polar plunge to stay optimally chilled between 34-36 degrees before being transported to its final destination. As a South Florida resident it was amazing to learn that they have a partnership with Fresh Kitchen to reach our plates within days of harvest!
It takes time, research and trial and error to introduce new varieties to the market. On our tours, we were able to see the extensive research and testing behind introducing new specialty varieties and crossbreeds like juicy crunch, broccolini, and pineberries to the market. We visited Tater Farms and learned about the process of crossbreeding Juicy Crunch, a new variety of tangerines in 2021. Aside from tourism, citrus was the biggest economic driver in Florida, so it was really insightful to hear about the success they’ve seen since introducing Juicy Crunch tangerines to the market, as well as the ways they’re combating greening (a major issue that impacts and damages produce all over the industry) and how they plan on adding more land to grow Juicy Crunch tangerines again next year. I was surprised to learn upon visiting UF/IFAS Hastings Agriculture Extension Center that the process of testing takes 10-12 years to crossbreed a new variety before it reaches consumers.
Farmers care about their team and are committed to producing the food we eat. Farming is hard work and so many farms remain family-owned after multiple generations. The relentless love and dedication they have to feeding the world is inspiring. Every year, farmers tenaciously set out to grow the freshest produce that’s harvested at the right time to ensure that quality produce reach our plates, however there’s times and seasons where nature has other plans. Hearing stories of how each family has adapted to these changes really showed me how committed they are to the strong calling they have! The farming teams that they have wouldn’t be the success they are today without the 50,000 migrant workers that are hired through the H2-A visa program. Through the program, farmers pay for their travel, housing, transportation, as well as a much higher hourly wage than what they would earn in their homeland. The farmers are grateful for the support that they receive and their teams often return seasonally for better farming opportunities in the states.
I’m so grateful I was able to have this experience and bring Baby Sonubi along with me 🤰🏾! Thank you again to Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, Fresh from Florida, and Agriculture Communicators of Florida for sponsoring such an unforgettable immersive experience! I’m forever thankful for our outstanding farmers who go above and beyond to feed our world!
