About Us

A secure, healthy and affordable agricultural-food system reflects an economic, environmental and social balance in the community.  The RC&D is committed to creating this balance by providing leadership through our programs and advocacy efforts, assessing the current food system, developing partnerships, coordinating funding, and assisting with project planning and management.

Major Program Areas (visit our Projects Page to find out how we put programs to work):

• Community Farm Building
  Developing and demonstrating different models of community farm operation in our 4-county area by providing technical assistance, project development, consulting, and community farm incubation services.

• Agricultural Economic Development
  Addressing the need for viable business opportunities in the creation of a vibrant local food system by developing a network of strong entrepreneurs pursuing their passions through business ventures.

• Agricultural Integrated Water Resources Management
  Addressing the need for water conservation in the growing of food by taking a business-friendly approach to integrated water resources management in agricultural operations.

• Community-Identified Food and Agriculture Projects
  Creating opportunities for inspired community members to contribute by assisting in the development of partnership-based community food and agriculture projects.

Advocacy

We are active pro-agriculture participants on community committees and work closely with our counties to promote and support local agriculture, leading the effort to develop complimentary approaches to agricultural land and open space preservation or acquisition. 

• Member of local county Agriculture Policy Councils

• Member of the Manatee County Farmland Stewardship Committee

• Founding member of the Sustainable Food System Committee of the Sustainable Sarasota Community Partnership

• Member of the Sarasota Science and Environment Council (SEC)

• Member of the Sarasota County Economic Development Council (EDC) Life and Environmental Sciences Cluster

Our work has helped raise the level of awareness on the importance of agriculture in our communities, resulting in several successful efforts and helping to build stronger community support for local agriculture.

• Partnered with Hillsborough, Sarasota and Manatee County Extension services to develop a well-attended Small Farms Workshop.

• Provided technical assistance to Manatee County to help develop a farmland protection program.

• Partnered with Sarasota County EDC to bring Rocky Mountain Institute’s Natural Capitalism Workshop to Sarasota in 2006 and a sequel implementation workshop in 2007.

• Worked with the Sarasota County Agriculture Policy Council to develop comprehensive plan recommendations in support of agriculture. 

We all have a vested interest in keeping our farms close to where we live, and a responsibility to ensure that each person in our community has access to healthy food. Join us in our work to keep agriculture in our communities, and our communities connected to agriculture!
 

"Ultimately, what sustainability requires of us is change in global society as a whole. We need the recovery and reconstitution of community generally, not simply in relation to food....To begin the global task to which we are called, we need some particular place to begin, we need some particular place to stand, some particular place in which to initiate the small, reformist changes that we can only hope may some day become radically transformative. We start with food. Given the centrality of food in our lives and its capacity to connect us materially and spiritually to each other and to the earth, we believe it’s a good place to start."      

-- "Coming into the Foodshed"

View Keeping Agriculture in the Community presentation

Top

Home     |     Contact Us     |     Privacy Policy
Design: Abacus Web Services        Copyright © Florida West Coast RCD 2005 - 2007