Preserving Agricultural Neighborhoods

A growing relationship in St. Johns County

Tractor at Ben Wells Farm in St. Johns County. Photo by Amy Robb.

St. Johns County has a rich history of agriculture thanks in part to the vision of Henry Flagler and Thomas Hastings. As Flagler was building the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine in the 1880s, he knew that providing food for his patrons would be an essential component of a successful operation. That is where his cousin, Hastings, came into the picture. He was known in the family for having a green thumb and came to Florida to start Prairie Gardens, approximately 1,600 acres of fruits and vegetables, for Flagler’s enterprise. This garden attracted other farmers and grew into the town of Hastings. After successfully growing onions, strawberries and other crops, local farmers heard through the grapevine that Irish potatoes were a high-value crop, and the winter climate of Florida could be ideal for potato production. That proved to be the case, then and now.

As an agricultural county, St. Johns has great diversity in its crop production for both financial and best practices reasons. While potatoes are still grown for chip and table stock uses (Hastings is known as the Potato Capital of Florida), the county’s farmers have expanded their crop profiles to include other plant families. In addition to potatoes, local farmers rotate their crops with legumes and grasses in other seasons. Crop rotation reduces the need for pest management because bugs, bacteria and other pests tend to attack plants in the same family.

Farms in St. Johns County extend beyond Hastings, into Elkton and parts of St. Augustine as well. Local growers produce cabbage, corn, snap beans, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, bok choy, peppers, cut flowers, sod, citrus, hay, honey and more. Some of these crops stay in the county, while others travel across the country, and farms actively produce something valuable every month of the year. For long-term survival, local consumers can help support our agricultural community by being aware of what is seasonally available and where to buy it. As a fellow resident, you can help in other ways too. Stay involved with your county government to be aware of projects or policies that could affect your agricultural neighbors. Your voice has an impact.

I regularly join the farming community to talk to our county leaders about ways to support local agriculture. In a very thoughtful and productive chat with the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners in 2024, we discussed the lack of an advisory committee specific to the voice of our farmers. We have committees for tourism, libraries, recreation and more. Why not agriculture? I was fortunate to be tasked by the SJC BOCC with creating this new advisory committee and helping the county ensure that our diverse commodities and crops are fairly represented. We are in the process of presenting a formal request and initiating the appointment process this summer. Stay tuned!

I firmly believe it is critical for our residents to show support for agriculture. St. Johns County is growing at a rapid speed and is projected to expand to over 493,900 people within a decade, according to a 2024 report by the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research. We all feel the impacts of growth and development, but as more people move to our beautiful coastal community, that means more food to provide for our restaurants, schools, grocery stores and markets. How will we continue to support the slow food movement and keep our produce fresh and affordable if we push our farmers out?

There is nothing wrong with buying artichokes from California or peaches from Georgia, and it is truly a fun experience to enjoy produce from other states. But if we lose our own agricultural presence, our food will be more expensive and have a shorter shelf life due to a longer commute. Right now, we can take pride in saying our growers supply the potatoes for chips at the grocery stores. Our friends are selling honey and homemade bread at the farmers’ markets and our local farmers cultivate green beans for our Thanksgiving meals. There is so much local agriculture to appreciate.

Stay involved. Stay in the loop. The team in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs is proactively looking for ways to support St. Johns County farmers. Our objective is to grow our relationship with the agricultural community to gather a bountiful harvest of communication and proactive strategies.

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EVELYN ‘PRISSY’ FLETCHER

Prissy is a lecturer at the University of Florida / IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences where she teaches soil science courses for undergraduate students. She is also an agricultural policy analyst for St. Johns County where she creates policies and practices that encourages and financially supports local food systems from the farm to the table. As a native Floridian, Prissy grew up in a rural, agricultural area, and continues to educate and advocate for Florida farmers in the classroom and in the community.