St. Pete farm provides locally grown produce and empowers teens
St. Pete Youth Farm is celebrating its fourth birthday.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The St. Pete Youth Farm recently celebrated its fourth birthday, marking an important milestone for the urban farm making a difference in the community.
The youth-led farm was started in 2017 after a grocery store shut down in St. Pete's Midtown neighborhood, leaving residents with limited access to fresh produce.
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"We kicked off in 2019 to address the issue with two grocery stores closing 10 blocks from here and now four years later we're growing food, we're giving it to the community," said Carla Bristol with St. Pete Youth Farm.
The farm started after the closure of a grocery store.
Transforming an empty city-owned lot behind the Enoch Davis Center, the St. Pete Youth Farm provides locally grown fruits and vegetables while also empowering teens through agriculture, leadership and entrepreneurship programs. Over 1,000 teens have visited the farm.
"St. Pete Youth Farm is important to the community because we provide at no cost to the community, free seedlings, free seeds, free harvest. So, on a daily basis we have folks to pop in," shared Bristol.
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Over the past four years, the farm has grown into a valued community resource, promoting nutrition, sustainability and cultivating the next generation of leaders. Over 90 teen have been hired to work at the farm.
The farm empowers young people in the community.
As the farm celebrates its fourth birthday, the future looks bright for this innovative urban farm filling a void in St. Petersburg.
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