Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason McCobb.
Jason, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was working for the breakers in Palm Beach at a time when they were only growing ornamentals. I began growing food in what was intended to be decorative landscaping and the chefs went crazy.
They encouraged me to continue expanding the gardens to grow for the kitchens and later sent me to California to learn more about the farm to table movement. While in Cali. I met my soon to be mentor, Bob Cannard. Bob had been farming in Petaluma, CA for the famous chef, Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkley. He quickly shed light on Organic vs. Sustainable agriculture, I was hooked.
Although I went back to the Breakers with tons of new found knowledge, I knew there was so much more to learn. With the support of my wife and our desire to raise our new baby in a community where local, sustainable food sources were available, I recognized the deficiency in our local food system. We believe the inadequacy of our food system is directly resulting in the demise of our health as a whole. I left the Breakers and set off on a three-month journey to California.
I lived on Bob’s farm and utilized every waking moment to educate myself on sustainable farming and agriculture. The end goal in sight was to bring these methods back to my own local roots and inspire those around me to join us, on what would quickly become a hugely important growing mission, to grow our own food.
Although I came back ready to roar, the community wasn’t widely receptive immediately. This didn’t stop us, we started Farmer Jay pure organics in November 2010 and soon after it began to take off. Quickly I understood that I was one man and we are one family on a great mission.
However, with all good intention, we could only do so much alone. After receiving a call from the Boca Raton Girl Scouts interested in having me come out and teach a class, the answer was clear and we gave birth to Farmer Jay’s Junior Sprouts soon after. Now on the brink of 2018 approaching, we have had over 6,000 children come through our programs.
We offer 2-8week sessions of junior farmer training and in-house field trips all over Florida even via Skype. It’s clear that the movement to start a local food system is bigger than ever and we are no longer standing on our soapbox alone. It’s truly empowering and so exciting to my wife and I.
Has it been a smooth road?
To try to get people in our community to accept that we can grow our own food effectively without the use of harmful chemicals. The misconception that here in Florida we are faced with the challenges of too much sand in our soil and too many insects renders us ineligible to grow food with the absence of harmful pesticides and additives.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Farmer Jay Pure Organics story. Tell us more about the business.
Farmer Jay Pure Organics is a multifaceted company on a major mission.
We want everyone to GROW SOMETHING – so…
1. we teach classes on how to do so
2. we offer consultations throughout palm beach county
3. we design, build and install vegetable gardens in homes and restaurants locally
4. we teach the next generation the importance of agriculture in our community through a series of classes and in-house field trips we offer.
5. we have a non-profit organization called Farmer Jays Junior Sprouts to raise funds to install edible gardens in our local schools
6. We sell our truly unique soil blend, composters, homegrown plants, soil amendments and more to offer a source of reliable tools to our local community of home farmers.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
To continue to inspire people, every home should have a garden where they grow SOMETHING!!! If we can continue to grow the number of gardens we install and the number of people we educate. The hope is to take back our local food system into our own hands and take over the control over our health.
My wife and I, along with the rest of the world, would be elated to see our world’s health improving. If the number of cases of cancer, auto-immune disease, autism, mental health issues, along with a plethora of other horrifying diagnoses, decrease. We truly believe it all starts by voting every day three times a day with our forks.
300 years ago 90% of us were farmers and now that number is 1% this has to change…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myfarmerjay.com
Image Credit:
Paul Miscagno of MizzPhotos
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
