When will St. Pete’s food forest program bear fruit?

St. Petersburg’s leadership has formally discussed a city-sponsored community food forest program since September 2022. Liability concerns and administrative delays have stunted its growth. 

Maeven Rogers, director of sustainability and resilience, presented an updated timeline at a March 27 committee meeting. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said officials should “get out of the way” and let grassroots groups bring the concept to fruition. 

In January, Tara Lynn Hubbard, president of Take MAR (More Action for Regeneration), told the Catalyst that bureaucratic red tape has hampered planned tree-planting projects in St. Petersburg. Gabbard said the local nonprofit wants to “do more” and “move faster” than the city.

“If we are planting trees, in my opinion, at least half of those trees should not only be shade, but they should also be feeding people,” Gabbard continued. “There are ways to do that … We’re in the way right now.” 

Rogers hopes to solicit a working group for the $150,000 pilot program in May. The city would accept grant applications in the late fall and award up to $25,000 to community stakeholders in time for the spring 2026 planting season. 

Gabbard, who led efforts to establish the program with Councilmember Gina Driscoll, said it initially would have provided fruit trees to residents willing to put them in publicly accessible places. Officials amended an urban agriculture ordinance to accommodate the initiative. 

However, liability concerns arose, and those plans languished. In August 2023, the city council approved using leftover BP settlement money from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion to improve St. Petersburg’s tree canopy and community gardens and fund a food forest pilot. 

Maeven Rogers, director of sustainability and resilience, believes the city can help support more than six community gardens.

At the time, officials agreed to support six existing gardens and establish new locations in the Childs Park neighborhood and other properties within the South St. Pete Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). 

Rogers said Thursday that she raised grant amounts to reflect increasing costs and challenges associated with growing food. “I do believe we can do more with the funding than just two food forest sites and six community gardens.” 

Rogers explained that an internal task force would establish application requirements. A community working group could provide education. 

For example, Rogers noted a group incurred a $7,000 water bill they could not afford after installing an irrigation system. She said people often attempt to plant vegetables in the shade. 

Gabbard said she and Driscoll have a list of organizations and people already familiar with the long-discussed initiative. Rogers has been with the city for less than six months. 

“Urban agriculture is as grassroots as it gets,” Gabbard said. “You have to know who’s in the community, in the dirt, literally making things happen.” 

The city will provide up to $15,000 to enhance existing community gardens. Driscoll questioned how that aligns with those who struggle to provide sunlight and irrigation. 

“If we are working to support additional capacity, there has to be initial capacity,” she added. “We’ve got to be able to define that and have certain criteria for what constitutes an existing community garden.” 

Councilmember Corey Givens suggested partnering with the St. Pete Youth Farm and faith-based organizations, who often have the land and volunteers necessary to ensure a garden thrives. Like Gabbard, he would also like the city to help provide fruit trees. 

While officials must restrict program funding to organizations, Rogers said she hopes to give away fruit trees as part of an annual Earth Day initiative. City Council Chair Copley Gerdes shared an exponentially more ambitious idea.

Mango trees were once ubiquitous in St. Petersburg, and Gerdes suggested planting the tropical fruit along the Pinellas Trail. He said it has multiple water lines for irrigation and would provide citywide access. 

Rogers said administrators have not considered using the Pinellas Trail to support a food forest. Rodents and residents with ladders are primary concerns surrounding any public location. 

“It might be ‘pie in the sky,’ but I’d at least like to see us explore that,” Gerdes said. 

Gabbard said she has “never given up” on the initial plan for a network of fruit trees extending throughout the city. She also noted that Take MAR awaits approval to plant hundreds of trees along the Pinellas Trail – without city funding or labor. 

Claude Tankersley, public works director, said he and Rogers recently had a productive meeting with the organization at City Hall. He pledged that those discussions would continue. 

“This is a pilot to give us a start because this is kind of where we landed today,” Gabbard said. “But I am so excited about the enthusiasm that you’re both bringing to this work – because I want us to come up with bigger and brighter ways to do this. 

“I believe we’ll get there someday.”