Alternative Community Farmer/WPB.FL

Farming in the 21st Century America is taking a Dirt road ride with all kinds of humps, bumps ,ditches and other you name it "umps" ..or not at all? Who knows?

To find what is going on the farm ground,  I visited a New Born(xyz) Farm North of Palm Beach County! .

The wealthy investors recently landed in Florida  from UP NORTH .They  purchased less than 100 acres of land and started 9 months ago planting tropical trees , like Lechee /papaya and Citrus etc ..The land was already populated with some citrus fields..But the most part lays barren and not bearing any fruits other than that !

There are a few standing tunnels  recently built , but still waiting for irrigation system to be installed..There are around 2 acres  growing Chinese and south asian vegertables like gourds/malabar,chinese okra etc , in the open sandy fields ,using plastic trenches..

The lonely machine that lays the trenches is idle with grass growing around it.The workers who tend the farm are ONLY three!

Fifteen workers were layed off lately  and deported  to their native country of origin.Bags of growing mix lay scattered haphazardly in the open air , some damaged by rain and some  by flooding .

I was expecting a nursery house around, but instead the seeding trays were laying on the flooded grounds filled with the growing mix of peat moss and coarse perlite . I spotted  no sprouting seeds in the trays .No wonder as seeds need to be grown in a nursery setting not just exposed to the blazing sun and harsh elents of Tropical Storms and what have you! .

The  good news :Papaya baby plants were growing in one gallon pots filled with the growing mix and  doing well .Other tropical plants, that have been planted with growing medium MIXED  with the local sandy soil ( nematode infested and weed seeds enriched!) , are choking to death!

The owners are Up North .They invested in buying the  land to farm food for profit , but  unfortunately they did not invest in getting some education on TROPICAL FARMING IN FLORIDA, to make the investment profitable is the least to say..Know before you grow.Get education on the way of the TROPICS..On the local markets..Hire local workers..

"They are making money else where , their friend told me ,this is an experimental farm!They can take losses.No profits is no problem as they learn  but do not earn profits is ok??/"

What about moral and cultural values??The case of those workers terminated and deported and now the farm is put on hold !Being FOR profit and with only values like growing GREENS for  GREEN BUCKS sake ..no matter what it takes of losses ??

Most farms lose money upon starting the business in general..but later on the pick up .The secret is to start small and go from there if one does not have  Tropical farming experience..It takes time to learn and time to earn..It also takes skilled and educated and experienced crew..It takes integrity and being present !

He told me it is an organic farm , but while I was walking around , I was shocked to see the insecticide gallons and chemical fertilizer bags crowding the path ways of the make shift structure ,that also housed the dining and sleeping rooms nearby!

I saw Farm  land every where but no farmers to do the work..This brings in the local farmers for hire..where are they?This brings in the LOCAL tropical Farming Education..Where are the programs to educate the able bodied ?This bring in the Able bodied on SNAP who can work and grow food.Where are they?This brings in ACCESS to Farm land for the general public to grow VICTORY GARDENS like before..Where are the accessible lands??/You can ot afford anymore to buy land in Florida for farming if you are a working class fellow..Developers and Investors have access..

Yes for work requirements ..No for FREE FOOD STAMPS for people who are able to work..Let us learn how to EARN ..Let us learn how to grow our own food again

https://newsok.com/article/5607455/point-of-view-work-requirements-in-snap-will-reduce-povertyhttps://newsok.com/article/5607455/point-of-view-work-requirements-in-snap-will-reduce-povertyhttps://newsok.com/article/5607455/point-of-view-work-requirements-in-snap-will-reduce-poverty