On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, the Southwest Florida Small Farmers Network held our late summer/early fall meeting at ECHO Global Farm in Fort Myers, FL. The focus of the meeting was Community Food Systems, Agroecology, and information on the newly re-launched UF/IFAS Small Farms & Alternative Enterprises program. The group also took a tour of ECHO Global Farms demonstration center to learn more about the practices and methods that are utilized at the site. Farmers, community members, agricultural industry professionals , and Extension Agents coalesced to share ideas and resources for building stronger farms and food communities.
The Southwest Florida Small Farmer Network is facilitated by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension agents from Lee, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Polk, Manatee, DeSoto, and Collier counties. The network is comprised of farmers throughout the SWFL region who gather to learn, share knowledge, and interact with each other to create a community of small farmers. 54 members attended this late summer/early fall meeting, including new, beginner, and experienced farmers, educators, allied industry members, agricultural-related agency personnel, and aspiring producers.
ECHO Global Farms is a global non-profit organization with a North American Regional Impact Center located in Fort Myers that teaches and experiments with sustainable small-scale farming methods to support food justice and security in communities around the world. The tour of the farm highlighted the practices of small-scale farm demonstration areas in tropical and sub-tropical climates, methods to build healthy soils, highlight agroecology systems, and innovative alternative, accessible technology methods for production and processing.
The meetings was also attended by representatives from FDACS, USDA, and Lee County Farm Bureau. UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center researcher Dr. Zachary Brym discussed the pillars of Agroecology. SWFL Small Farmers Network Chair and Polk County Agent Luis Rodriguez shared the UF/IFAS Building Your Small Farm Business Plan page, and Dr. David Campbell of the UF/IFAS Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Program talked with growers about their needs and resources available on the state-level for small farms. Local UF/IFAS Extension agents from Lee, Polk, DeSoto, and Collier Counties were available to answer farming questions and help connect participants during the round robin session.
The meeting proved to be extremely valuable to participants to participants as survey results showed that 93% of participants learned something new, with the largest knowledge gains in increased networking with other small farms, increased networking with allied industry members, and increased knowledge on agroecology.
43% of all survey participants also gained a new skill because of the event. Some skills mentioned included plant harvesting, soil management, regenerative farming, and animal integration in farming systems.
89% of survey participants made a new connection and 29% intend to adopt a new production practice due to attending the event in the areas of building soils, implementing practices in agroecology, and growing tilapia.
When asked about legal and regulatory topics of interest, the group overwhelmingly was interested in farm business structures (see Fig. 1) and least interested in farm finances and business management (see Fig. 2) over other topics. Selected quotes from participants about their plans to use or monetize what they learned today included: “Gaining new connections to expand sales base”, “Utilizing IFAS resources to better plan out farm”, “Inform my research agenda”, “Try to learn more about regenerative farming”, “Change crop profile”, and “Share the info today with more farmers and people interested in farming.”
Figure 1. Survey results collected during the meeting asking participants to rank the following legal and regulatory topics. The topics below were the highest rated based on a survey of small farmers conducted in early 2025.
Figure 2. Survey results collected during the meeting asking participants to rank the following general education topics. The topics below were the highest rated based on a survey of small farmers conducted in early 2025.
We thank ECHO Global Farms for their partnership with UF/IFAS Extension and for supporting small farm families not only in Southwest Florida, but throughout the world.
We hope those of you reading this will attend a future meeting and see for yourself the power of the SWFL Small Farmers Network. If you are interested in attending the next SWFLSFN meeting, contact your local extension agent to be added to our mailing list.
0
