Director of Education and Outreach for Florida Organic Growers (FOG), a nonprofit based in Gainesville since 1989 that is working on several projects to better understand and improve the food system in Gainesville.

GIFT Gardens (Gainesville Initiative for Tasty Gardens) builds free raised-bed vegetable gardens for underserved and low-income Alachua County, Florida residents and the institutions that serve them, helping them become more self-sufficient and increasing their ability to provide for some of their own food needs. Participants receive raised beds, fertile soil, seeds, vegetable starts, a GIFT Gardens Growing Guide and ongoing assistance free of charge. After the installation by FOG staff and volunteers, participants plan and plant their gardens, allowing them to take ownership of the GIFT Garden and learn how to start, take care and maintain a vegetable garden plot. To qualify for GIFT gardens, participants must live within Alachua County and have a low or very low income. Residents with higher incomes can make a donation to GIFT Gardens and receive one to three beds, and the donation supports free GIFT gardens for low-income residents and underserved institutions. GIFT Gardens make great gifts too! Contact FOG for more information about giving the gift of a garden that will produce healthy, fresh food all year. The program is made possible by generous grants and support from Alachua County, City of Gainesville, Sustainable Alachua County, Satchel’s Pizza, Yes to Carrots, Inc., and NALITH Foundation.

FOG is also undertaking a project supported by a USDA Commuity Food Planning Grant called “Community Vision for Food System Development in Gainesville-Alachua County” to support the process of identifying our community’s needs for a more sustainable food system. This one-year planning project will bring together a network of all stakeholders to have a voice in discussions about local food systems planning with a specific focus on community food security for low-income residents. FOG is reaching out to those with lower incomes and historically underserved populations that have the most trouble accessing food and the greatest number of diet-related illnesses in hopes they will participate in these and future discussions about Gainesville’s food system.

Surrounded by rural areas, in a climate that allows people to grow food all year long, and home to large colleges, universities and hospitals, Gainesville is in the perfect position to capitalize on the growing demand for local and sustainably grown food. Other cities that focus on agriculture’s potential to kick-start a local economy have reaped big benefits ranging from increase in jobs to higher availability of fresh, affordable, locally-grown produce for residents with lower incomes. Gainesville’s food system has the potential to grow “green” jobs in Alachua County as the local and sustainable food movement continues to take hold across the nation.

Everyone who eats is part of the food system. A food system is the process that starts with the growing of food in backyards, large farms, etc. to waste produced after the food has been processed, transported, sold and consumed. FOG is hoping a diverse group of stakeholders, including Gainesville residents, businesses, churches, nonprofits, hospitals, schools, and university, county and city government, will enliven the conversation about the future of Gainesville’s food system, and how that future can support a thriving, self-sufficient local economy.

A Local Food Action Plan will be written in spring 2009 following deliberation by several working groups who will be looking at results of a Community Food Assessment Survey currently underway and recommendations made in these public meetings, all of which are made possible by a USDA Community Food Planning Grant. The groups will also focus on recommendations in the Alachua County Hunger Abatement Plan and recommendations by the Alachua County Energy Conservation Strategies Commission on maximizing local food production and processing.