Farm 2 Neighbors

About

Farm 2 Neighbors @farm2n is a mutual aid project based hyperlocally in the Kincaid Loop (CR 2043) of Southeast Gainesville.

Map of the Kincaid Loop area in Gainesville and Farm 2 Neighbors neighborhoods. Click the sidebar icon in the top-left of the map to toggle layers on and off.

Farm 2 Neighbors was originally the idea of a Gainesville woman, Tuesday. At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, large food supply excesses were created due to social distancing guidelines and lockdowns, include surpluses from local farms in Gainesville. Tuesday's idea was to distribute the excess from local organic farms (Siembra Farm)[https://siembrafarm.com/] and (Family Garden)[https://www.thefamilygardencsa.com/] to local neighbors. Eventually, Tuesday left Gainesville and another Gainesville woman, Brackin, took over the project with the help of volunteer organizers, including Renz.

Nowadays, during the Floridian growing season, Farm 2 Neighbors distributes to about 50 families across SE Gainesville.

The Kincaid Loop

The Kincaid Loop is a collection of mostly Black neighborhoods off CR 2043 (SE 15th St, SE 42nd Ave, SE 27th St) that arguably is one of the cultural centers of Southwest Gainesville. Off SE 15th St is Boulware Springs, the historic source of drinking water for the City of Gainesville. Originally a smattering of pine plantations, pastures, and small farms, most of the current subdivisions were developed in the 1960s and are currently majority Black with some exceptions.

A comparison of satellite imagery of the Kincaid Loop in 1956 and now. Use the slider to toggle between the black and white aerial imagery from 1956 and ESRI's current imagery. Source: UF Digital Collections and ESRI.

The organic farms that provide food for the Farm 2 Neighbors project operate in a food desert - there are no grocery stores within 1 mile serving any but the northernmost neighborhoods of the Kincaid Loop. Land ownership patterns in the Loop are racialized - Black and lower middle class white folks own suburban homes in 1960s-era subdivisions, while well-off white and conservation-minded folks own the larger tracts in the Kincaid Loop, including the organic farms.

Farm 2 Neighbors attempts to address this disparity by forming community surrounding food. F2N organizers meet residents each week at their homes with fresh, local, organic vegetables, creating regular connections between neighbors and farms. Although Farm 2 Neighbors doesn't directly challenge the racialized disparity of land ownership, it does form bonds where they wouldn't have existed before through community events and food sharing, and it addresses the hypocrisy of white-owned organic farms operating in Black neighborhoods underserved by food amenities.