County Commission Moves Forward With Ag Advisory Board

St. Johns County farmers help put food on the community’s table and thanks to county commissioners they are getting a seat at that table too.

At a meeting earlier this month, the commission directed staff to move forward with the creation and an Agricultural Advisory Board to give farmers and other members of the agricultural community a voice in issues affecting the industry.

“This is my favorite one about the agricultural community and how we can keep it, save it and work with it,” said Commission Chair Krista Joseph.

Prissy Fletcher, a soil scientist and teacher at the University of Florida, explained how the advisory board would fill a gap in the county and help preserve the agricultural economy in St. Johns.

“There are several advisory boards that exist in this community, but we’re not representing agriculture,” she said. “We have wide swaths of agricultural lands from the north to the south, primarily on the west side of the county. We are in the top 10 inthe state of Florida for acreage and cash receipts for vegetables and melon crops.”

Fletcher told commissioners farmers “would love to communicate with you all” and the idea of creating an advisory board for agricultural is not a partisan issue.

“Regardless of your beliefs, we all have to eat at the end of the day,” she said.

Fletcher outlines several issues of importance to farmers that an advisory body would help address, including balancing development and the protection of agricultural and rural lands, flooding and watershed disturbances, agricultural traffic signage placement, agricultural awareness and publicity, encouraging the next generation of farmers, support for slow food efforts and maximizing food security for the community.

Intergovernmental Affairs Director Adam Tecler said the advisory board would be able to assist the county on legislative issues that address agricultural issues, including the Rural Renaissance Bill before the legislature, as well as identifying opportunities to improve the resiliency of infrastructure critical to agricultural production and assisting county efforts to preserve generational farms and securing funding to promote innovation and production.

Commissioner Sarah Arnold said the advisory board idea is the product of conversations that began several months ago on ways to give local farmers a voice on the potential impact large developments can have on farms.

“We don’t have any information on how it could impact agriculture,” she said. “I think it has a lot of potential.”

During the public comment period, resident Tyrone Bennett suggested including members of the county’s food service industry, such as restaurants and food truck operators.

“On behalf of restaurant owners and food truck owners, we want to use more local products,” he said.

Resident Chuck Lewandowski said an agricultural advisory board is long overdue.

“Our farmers need to be represented,” he said.