St. Pete launches program to expand community gardens and food forests

New urban agriculture program

Saint Petersburg leaders want to turn food deserts into food forests. The city is looking to plant $150,000 into a new urban agriculture program. FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg city leaders want to grow community gardens and add two to three food forests through the new Community Urban Agriculture Program. 

Grant funding urban agriculture efforts

The backstory:

The city’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience is utilizing a $150,000 grant to launch the new Community Urban Agriculture Program. 

The initiative is aimed at two specific goals: strengthening existing, permitted community gardens and creating two to three new "food forests."

According to city plans, officials intend to prioritize placing these resources in neighborhoods where food deserts are most prominent.

Community feedback on garden needs

What they're saying:

To ensure the money goes where it is most needed, organizers are relying on community feedback. 

Maeven Rogers, the sustainability and resilience director for the city of St. Pete, emphasized the need to hear directly from local growers about their operational hurdles.

"We have on one side our community gardens that need resources," Rogers said during Tuesday's meeting at the St. Pete Youth Farm. "So, we're talking about what resources do you need? Do you need a fence? Do you need vegetable starters? Do you need a pergola?"

Rogers also noted that while the current grant is for $150,000, community feedback could open the door to additional funding.

"We don't know where we need to go until we at least get past this step," Rogers explained. "Once we get past this step we can really identify the gap... and then we can provide that information to the council or other elected [officials]."

Educating and expanding food access

Dig deeper:

The program is designed to serve both experienced urban farmers and neighborhood residents who are completely new to growing food. 

The planned food forests will act as hubs where people can see a thriving ecosystem of trees and bushes living together to provide an abundance of food.

"This is kind of an opportunity to not only help the urban ag community that has been working on these for a long time, but also to bring in other residents to show them the possibilities of what a food forest looks like, and how you could, if you wanted to, create something like that at your home," Rogers said.

The city hopes that teaching these practices will increase local food assets and help residents improve their nutrition by utilizing their own front and backyards.

What's next:

The city hopes to officially launch the Community Urban Agriculture Program within a year.

Residents who missed the first meeting still have a chance to share their ideas and help shape the program. 

The next public feedback session will take place on June 11 at the Walter Fuller Recreation Center. 

The meeting will run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.