TAMPA, Fla. — If you want quality produce that hasn't been picked and shipped from overseas (and hit with tariffs), look no further than your local produce and fruit farm.
Tucked in a corner of Downtown Tampa near the I-4 and I-275 interchange. Meacham Urban Farm is a hidden gem that is quickly gaining popularity.
"We've been here for about four years now, and it's just, I think we had about 116% increase in business over the past six months," Owner Operator of Meacham Urban Farms Joe Dalessio told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska.
We visited the farm to talk about fruits and vegetables.
"We grow all the vegetables, and then we work with about 20 farms in the area, so we bring in all their products as well and make it accessible," Dalessio said.
"If you buy local fresh from Florida, you can get things in season, and people can come here and save a little bit of money?" Paluska asked.
"Absolutely, that's what it's all about. There's less fluctuation, less variability on, you know, global politics and global economics. And that's a big driver of what we do here: supporting local food systems and making them more sustainable and robust. We have our farm store. So we're harvesting our produce two to three days out of the week. We pull off about 50,000 to 60,000 pounds a year and make that available for our farm store."
The farm also accepts EBT.
"We offer EBT programs where people can get half off their purchases. And so we're trying to make it as affordable and as approachable as possible for everyone to be able to take part in eating healthy food," Dalessio said.
According to theUSDA, the amount of fruits and vegetables imported in the U.S. has skyrocketed. According to their data, in 1981, less than 10% of fresh vegetables were imported for fruits, and around 29%. Compare that to today, where vegetables account for 35% of imports and fruit 59%.
"There's no tariff, there's no fuel cost. So we can have a lot more stability," Dalessio said.
You can find your local farms on the Fresh from Florida website.
Local farms across the Tampa Bay area:
- Meacham Urban Farm, Tampa
- Fat Beet Farm, Tampa
- Sweetwater Organic Community Farm, Tampa
- Raprager Family Farm's, Odessa
- TrailBale Farm, Temple Terrace
- Bears Grove Farm, Tampa
- Olivor Heritage Farms, Dover
- Branchton Farms Produce, Thonotosassa
- A Land of Delight, Plant City
- Life Farms, Clearwater
- Abby's Community Farm, Lutz
Since the beginning of the year, ABC Action News has tracked prices for five items across five stores. For April, we noticed egg prices have dropped significantly.
Here are our charts:
Avocado
Honey Crisp Apples
A Dozen Eggs
Chicken breast (per pound)
Ground beef 93/7
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