What Does Fleet Farming Mean?
Fleet Farming is a program sponsored and operated by IDEAS For Us, a non-profit based in Orlando, Florida. Fleet Farming’s focus is on encouraging the growth of gardens, not lawns, and on supporting the hyper local food movement.
By growing food rather than lawns, water consumption, gasoline consumption, and exhaust emissions can all be curtailed. In addition, the food produced by Fleet Farming gardens is sold at local farmer’s markets within a three-mile radius of the home garden, and is delivered there by bike.
Maximum Yield Explains Fleet Farming
There’s a growing movement in the US to replace residential lawns with gardens. Fleet Farming is at the forefront of that movement. The Orlando, Florida, based program (created and operated by IDEAS For Us) focuses on convincing homeowners with underutilized yards to donate space. That space is then used to grow food, rather than lawn.
Fleet Farming focuses on changing residential homes from lawns to gardens for a number of reasons. One of those is the fact that it takes an immense amount of gasoline each year to mow those lawns. That also means a significant amount of exhaust is emitted into the atmosphere just to keep grass cut. Of course, an incredible volume of water is needed to grow that grass in the first place.
Homeowners are able to become urban farmers within the Fleet Farming initiative, but they do not have to. Volunteers from Fleet Farming will maintain yard-based gardens at no cost. Homeowners are even able to keep a percentage of the produce grown on their land at no cost, and with no requirement that they get out and work the land.
Ultimately, Fleet Farming is focused on environmental change, social change, and economical change, all by encouraging homeowners to grow food and not lawns.
