PHOTO VIA FLEET FARMING FACEBOOK PAGE

The City of Orlando, in cooperation with IDEAS For US (Website) has received a $250,000 grant from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Farmers Market Promotion Program. The money will fund three projects in West Orlando and Parramore:

  1. Creating 10-15 “farmlettes” in resident front yards, creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program based on the Fleet Farming model
  2. Launching a farmers market at Orlando City Soccer Club’s new stadium in Parramore which will feature foods locally grown in the area
  3. Teaching neighborhood residents about nutrition and healthy cooking

 

Fleet Farming (Facebook) is a bike-operated urban farming program that grows food on private properties and then sells the produce at local farmers markets, although for this model, the majority of the produce will go towards the CSA and neighborhood residents. The Fleet Farming model has been operating in Audubon Park for the past few years and made national press. Proceeds from the program go towards community development and sustainability projects that are hosted through their parent non-profit, IDEAS For Us.

The City of Orlando will be hiring a Farmers Market and CSA manager, through the grant funding, to manage the market and the overall farming program. IDEAS will be hiring two farm managers from the Parramore neighborhoods to help manage the farmlettes.
Other community partners for this program include LIFT, IFAS, and Hebni for cooking and nutrition classes.

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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  1. Regina Melvin you may want to get in on this, possibly teaching or having them work on you old farm down here. U0001f914

    Reply