New Old-School Farming In Punta Gorda: Tropical Fruit With No Water?
PUNTA GORDA, FL — Across the road from Matthew Reece’s Peace River Organics farm sits an ancient Florida forest; lush vegetation, green even in dry 95-degree weather, half-jungle, hundreds-of-years-old and part of an ecosystem that’s been there much longer. No one tends it. No one waters it. No one fertilizes it. And yet it’s thriving. Reece figured he could learn a lesson from that and manage his tropical fruit farm and nursery the exact same way – despite this region’s reputation for blistering heat and long dry stretches.
Reece is one of a growing number of farmers in Florida and elsewhere who are taking pages out of a (very) old-school playbook to meet the needs and demands of farming in the modern world. His operation is fully organic and wholly regenerative – meaning it sustains and renews itself without additional inputs like chemicals or irrigation.
Papayas, mangoes, coconuts and a dozen varieties of bananas are part of the mix. So are pineapples, edible bamboo, giant jackfruit and lychee. It’s a real tropical fruit salad. And despite the lack of water or chemicals, there’s nothing puny in the bowl – just luscious, juicy goodness.
“If you had asked me if you can farm fruit commercially like this in South Florida without water and chemicals, I’d have said, ‘Good luck,’” says Chip Carter, producer and host of TV and YouTube’s Where The Food Comes From, here to make an episode about Reece’s magic. “Sure I’ve seen tons of thriving organic farms in Florida and elsewhere. But to see sustainable, regenerative farming at this scale – and with this incredible crop diversity – with no added water at all is truly remarkable. And I think it’s a sign of better farming practices to come everywhere.”
Ironically, Reece never set out to be a farmer. None of his family were in agriculture, he had no connections to the land. A civil engineer by trade, a change in his eating habits a few years back led him down this new old-fashioned trail. He sells fruit locally and ships to favorable markets. And his nursery business follows a similar model, sending trees from Southwest Florida to any climate they’ll grow in.
Following ancient ways from tropical climes to the south, Reece plants in consortiums – groups of plants that get along, replenish the soil, conserve moisture and help protect each other from the brutal Florida sun. A consortium starts with a coconut palm, or a tall mango or papaya. Under that is a smaller fruit tree or bush. Rounding things out at the bottom is a ground plant, like pineapple, surrounded by a layer of organic mulch. The taller trees are equipped to take the Florida sun – and provide shade for more tender crops below. And even during the driest seasons, dew and condensation collect on the higher leaves and drop down to the others below, with the mulch conserving whatever’s missed.
“This is the way it’s been done in tropical climates for eons,” Reece explains. He points across the road to the forest beyond: “There’s absolutely nothing new about it. We’re just continuing millennia-old practices that have sustained people forever and give back to the land at the same time.”
Reece is part of a growing wave of regenerative farmers who are looking to the past for better ways to do what they do. There’s a particularly active presence in this part of Florida. In a previous episode, Carter and crew travelled to Fort Myers to meet a half-dozen like-minded farmers from all over the world, here to take lessons learned in Florida back to where they grow. And you can watch that story as well, free and on-demand here.
Where The Food Comes From travels the country visiting farms and going up and down the supply chain to show all the invisible hands that keep the world fed. Currently in Season 5, full episodes are available on the show’s YouTube channel now, and that number will grow to 65 by the end of the year!
QUICK REFERENCE
Watch this episode on the WTFCF YouTube channel!