Orlando-Based, Seed2Source Corporation Joins The Villages® to Operate One of Florida’s Largest Agriculture Production Farms & Medical Culinary Programs
Orlando-Based, Seed2Source Corporation Joins The Villages® to Operate One of Florida’s Largest Agriculture Production Farms & Medical Culinary Programs
Orlando, FL (May 30, 2018) -
Orlando-based, agriculture and wellness company, Seed2SourceTM Corporation, recently entered into a strategic partnership with The Villages® to bring, The Villages GrownTM —a future multi-acre produce production operation that includes technologically-advanced greenhouses, an outdoor farm, processing center, and retail market, supported by medical culinary wellness programs. This multi-phased project will be one of the local food system operations of its kind in the state of Florida. The operation will yield approximately 2 million pounds of produce beginning the first year and will focus on nutrient-dense food offerings with a food- as-medicine approach to health and wellness.
‘The Villages Grown, Together with Seed2SourceTM’, will be located in The Villages community and will ensure that the approximately 120,000+ residents achieve optimal health through hyper-local food access and educational wellness programs.
The Villages Grown will be supported through dining services, commercial businesses, corporations, retailers and the medical community.
Phase I of this project features a controlled environment greenhouse operation utilizing advanced growing technologies within a collective of proprietary methodologies; an outdoor field-grown farm with sustainable production methods; a full-scale processing center that includes wholesale access for chefs; and a mobile farmers market.
Up to 60 different culinary crop varieties with food-as-medicine specific benefits will be grown and distributed from this location. The farm operation will be one of the most technologically and sustainably-driven approaches currently in Florida. Jennifer Waxman-Loyd, a familiar name in the agriculture world and co-founder of Seed2Source Corporation, says, “It’s an exciting time in agriculture. The Villages Grown has the opportunity to benefit hundreds of thousands of people—from consumers, to farmers, to local and corporate businesses. I honestly think this effort could prove to be the largest healthy local food system built around a targeted demographic in a single master planned community.”
This initiative will eventually support and assist both the existing Seed2Source and The Villages farm networks by aggregating local farmers and aspiring artisans, thus providing a way for them to participate in this health-driven organization. These forward-thinking approaches are set to empower not only The Villages community, but also serve and inspire others. Future amenities could include a retail market, culinary commercial and demonstration kitchens, food-as-medicine programs, and farm-2-table dining experiences.
The Villages Grown project could ultimately benefit all of Central Florida due to the high volume of consistently grown, local, quality produce provided from this operation. Product will be distributed to the Central Florida Medical Community, institutions, corporations, food service providers, restaurant holding groups, resorts, select retail grocers, as well as consumers.
Over the past decade, Seed2Source Corporation, a division of Sustainable Synergy Inc., has been dedicated to creating a healthy Central Food Local Food System by bridging food with commercial development; aggregating & distributing local food to organizations; and creating healthy workplaces through a Food-as-Medicine approach supported by Education. The company offers consulting services such as agricultural business planning, capital and grant funding, Go-to-Market strategies, advanced growing methodologies and the distribution of premium local food products. Seed2Source works with various companies including The Villages, Higgins Ag, Compass Group, Chartwells, Stetson University, Florida Polytech University, Rollins College, Sodexo, University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Long & Scott Farms, Lake Meadow Naturals, Orlando Utilities Commission, Green Works Orlando, Orange County Health Department, among others.