Alachua County commissioners back plan to boost farmers markets, explore ‘farm stop’ in East Gainesville

The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted Feb. 3 to move forward on a package of measures aimed at strengthening local farmers markets, supporting small producers and exploring a grocery-style ‘‘farm stop’’ for East Gainesville.

Bailey McClellan, the county’s agricultural economic development coordinator, presented the 2025 Farmers Market Needs Assessment and said staff collected 338 responses in total — 282 from shoppers and 56 from vendors — showing markets serve a broad cross-section of incomes but skew older. “And in total, we collected 338 responses,” McClellan said, and identified priorities that include better shade and covered areas, easier parking, seating, restrooms and expanded programming.

Commissioners framed the report as a prompt for near-term investments and longer-term planning. Commissioner Anna moved a multi-part action asking staff to expand marketing, reconfigure the county’s small-farm grant program to support markets in the coming budget year (FY26–27) and work with the city of Gainesville to explore a farm-stock or ‘‘farm stop’’ concept to improve food access in East Gainesville. Anna said the model — a consignment-style market with centralized checkout — could give farmers steady outlets without the full-time staffing commitment of an additional market and could use existing CRA redevelopment funds held by the city.

Jessica Hera, the county’s economic development director, said the county already operates small farmers grants and that the program is roughly $100,000 a year with individual awards historically up to $5,000. “We have small farmers grants. I think they’ve been in place three or four years. It’s about a $100,000 a year for, I believe, up to $5,000 per farm,” Hera said, and proposed an alternative: migrate some of that funding to support farmers markets themselves (for infrastructure like shade, signage or point-of-sale systems) rather than only direct payments to individual producers.

Board members highlighted operational challenges for vendors — transportation, time and unpredictability of sales — and urged flexible approaches. Commissioners raised potential sites for a farm stop including the old Food Lion location and a historic blueberry farm in East Gainesville, but also flagged common obstacles such as land cost and the need for willing sellers and private partners. Commissioner Wheeler noted seasonal variability and weather risks for growers and suggested rotating covered venues or using existing covered spaces when appropriate.

Public commenters and local farmers urged a comprehensive approach. Rebecca Fox, a recent small-farm grant recipient who said she purchased a local blueberry farm, told commissioners the shared marketing and managed, staffed spaces could reduce burdens on producers and broaden shopping hours: “It is so helpful to think about the things that all farmers need…shared marketing, like we said, of shared spaces that can be managed and staffed,” Fox said.

The final motion, expanded during discussion, included five parts: (1) expand marketing and outreach for farmers markets, (2) migrate the county’s small farmers grant program to support markets in the coming budget year (FY26–27), (3) work with the city of Gainesville to explore a farm-stop/farm-stock concept in East Gainesville and add that topic to a joint meeting agenda, (4) invite Extension and community-garden stakeholders into the joint meeting conversation to discuss a community gardens coordinator, and (5) ask the county self-insurance committee to research a food-as-medicine pilot for employees. The chair called for voice votes and declared the motion unanimous.

County staff said they will draft recommended grant language and return to the board before releasing any changed grant applications. Hera described immediate steps staff can take on marketing and suggested the county could design flexible market grants that fund shared infrastructure rather than only individual vendor payments. Staff also said the farm-stop concept and any site-specific proposals will be discussed jointly with the city and brought back for more detailed review.

The board also addressed unrelated business before adjourning, asking staff to bring land-use items for the Eco Loop industrial site back through the public hearing and policy process. The meeting adjourned after commissioners set the next procedural steps.

Next steps: staff will return with draft grant language, a timeline for migrating grant support to markets for FY26–27, and recommendations for the joint meeting with the city of Gainesville to explore the farm-stop concept and community-gardens coordination.