That’s according to Molly Peavy, administrative assistant at the Okaloosa County Farm Bureau and assistant to the Florida Farm Bureau Federation Board.
She noted today that, because of high food prices, “everyone’s hurting more this year.”
Harvest jubilee
Farm-City Week is a national initiative to celebrate the partnerships that make our food supply safe and plentiful, according to county Farm Bureau officials. Each year, the bureau partners with community volunteers, farmers, and members of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the county Extension Office, and Feeding the Gulf Coast to present the annual local celebration, which kicks off with a tractor parade.
On Nov. 21, the parade will get rolling at 9 a.m. at the Farm Bureau office at 921 W. James Lee Blvd. It will proceed to Richbourg School, 500 Alabama St., where each student will be able to get a sweet potato from one of the tractors.
The parade will finish at Woodlawn Baptist Church, 824 N. Ferdon Blvd., which is the site of the food distribution event. It will begin at 11 a.m. at the church’s north parking lot. Students who belong to local 4-H and Future Farmers of America groups will help distribute the food.
The free food will include sweet potatoes, cornmeal, grits, collard greens, and turnip greens, as well as peanut butter from the Okaloosa County Extension Office’s Peanut Butter Challenge.
During the challenge, extension office officials receive numerous donated, unopened jars of peanut butter from community members. The challenge began in late September and runs through Nov. 19.
Proclamation
On Tuesday, the Okaloosa County Commission approved the issuing of a proclamation declaring Nov. 19-26 as Farm-City Week in Okaloosa County.
In the proclamation, county officials said:
- Florida farmers and ranchers help feed the world by producing a bounty of nutritious foods. To do this, they rely on essential partnerships with urban and rural communities to supply, sell and deliver finished products to consumers across Florida and around the globe
- Rural and urban communities working together have built our nation’s rich agricultural resources so that they contribute to the health and well-being of our country and the strength of our economy
- During National Farm-City Week, we recognize the importance of this cooperative network. Agriculture and related enterprises employ more than 2 million workers, including farmers and ranchers, shippers, processors, marketers, retailers, inspectors and others who contribute an annual impact of $182 billion to Florida’s economy
- As they perform their daily work, farmers and ranchers preserve freshwater recharge areas, wildlife habitat and greenspace. Consumers help farm families maintain their superior natural resource conservation practices by purchasing Florida’s agricultural products
- Farm-City Week activities celebrate the mutually beneficial relationships that support the quality of life we all enjoy. (On Thanksgiving), we count these relationships among our many blessings
- We commend the many Floridians whose hard work and ingenuity provide us with food abundance and reflect the true spirit of our state and nation.