Here is something we all can do to help our local farmers so that they don't sell their land to developers: Buy their produce. You can identify Redland Raised Produce by this bright yellow sticker. Look for the sticker, buy the product. Lets hope it also tastes good. However, this is really important, pass it on to your friends. A successful farmer will not sell his land. Miami Dade has done something positive here (for once) and the Miami Herald agrees:Now a new branding initiative by Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Publix Super Markets will have customers looking for the ``Redland-Raised'' label.
Smart call -- for local farmers, for advertisers, for consumers and for the environment.
Between November and April, Miami-Dade farms produce much of the vegetables sold at area supermarkets and in other parts of the nation. The new label will remind consumers they can help their local economy and feed their families.
And, there is also an economic component, besides helping sprawl:
Miami-Dade's agriculture business ranks second in Florida, employing 20,000 people with an economic impact of $2.7 billion annually.
11 comments:
The County Ag Manager did a good job pushing for this. The article seems like it was the brainchild of Publix - it was not.
They have latched on to a good idea and are now taking the concept state wide as a way to compete against inroads from Whole Foods. Good for them, but this is really a county initiative (your post here doesn't imply that, but the Herald stories mostly do).
This is a great opportunity to really contribute to our farming community. Thanks for posting.
Keep you food local and help save the planet. The average American meal travels 1200 miles to get to our plate. Buying Redland produce cuts at least that part of your meal to less than a dozen - or less if you're lucky enough to live near the Redland.
AMEN and I promise not to bash a single commissioner or county official who has a hand (large or small) in taking a good idea to the next level. Change is incremental, very often. I know that my consciousness has greatly shifted over the past 30 years. I use to buy California naval oranges all the time. I don't do that any more.
I went to the Publix website and wrote all the PR people thanking them for preserving jobs in our local economy. It would be awesome of they got some tv air time on this thing. Perhaps Publix will shoot a commercial.
AMEN and I promise not to bash a single commissioner or county official who has a hand (large or small) in taking a good idea to the next level. Change is incremental, very often. I know that my consciousness has greatly shifted over the past 30 years. I use to buy California naval oranges all the time. I don't do that any more.
I went to the Publix website and wrote all the PR people thanking them for preserving jobs in our local economy. It would be awesome of they got some tv air time on this thing. Perhaps Publix will shoot a commercial.
I am absolutely flabbergasted to read that the push to identify Redland agriculture to the public country wide is being attributed to the County Commissioners, Publix, or any other public official! This was the idea of the people who fought tirelessly for a decade to preserve Redland's agricultural viability, to promote its fruits/vegetables/plants nationwide. They were intelligent, conscientious people who did their homework, spent hundreds of hours and their own money only to have the County Commnissioners treat them with incredulous rudeness. This belligerent reception was also handed out from other politicians, community 'leaders' whose pocketbooks would have been and were greatly increased from the selling off of precious Redland farm land for tacky developments. Eighty percent of which is now in foreclosure. Everytime I look west of the the turnpike (not part of Redland but certainly irreplaceable and highly productive farmland for half a century) and see those abandoned projects, I think of all the people that could now be nourished from those fields if they were still in production.
Please! County Commissioners idea? How can they sleep at night!
Eleanor Miller
Eleanor has it right, but letting them take the credit, the County Commissioners, doesn't change the positive of the program. Maybe they will keep funding it if they get credit. Once in a while they wade into doing a good thing purely by accident.
Redland branding and a Chamber of Agriculture were the brainchild of Pat Wade over 10 years ago. The initiatives were part of the RISA Plan to incorporate Redland and spend some City dollars on promoting agriculture. Purchase of Development Rights on agriculture land was another part of the RISA plan. Of course the commission never let any of that happen and the Dade County Farm Bureau fought it tooth and nail. Now that farmland is more valuable for agriculture than building everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to save agriculture. The end result is positive and that's a good thing but please don't give credit to farmers/politicians who delayed the progress for so long. A city of Redland could have done it a long time ago.
The Redland brand was paid for by state and pushed with the ag manager and Redland folks in concert. It was stalled by the county every step of the way.
The Farm Bureau was not responsible.
You betcha that Label of Origin matters to me.
I Betcha too. :)
In order for this to continue to flourish, and for all the hard work of those like Pat and countless others to take root, commissioners and county workers need to be embraced, encouraged and challenged to back this up by respecting land use and giving the agg district time to increase viability and local sales.
With Publix, we can let them know that we support with our dollars. If you have been purchasing produce elsewhere and go back to buy the Redland stuff, let them know.
Those who have strived for this kind of stuff will not be forgotten or overlooked. They have been in the trenches for years and often don't seek the lime light.
However, don't fret over those who "got religion" late in the game. Take them to the next level of understanding. That's what I say. It's a good thing that is happening.
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