LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Florida farmers are weighing in on a new law impacting how food reaches families in need. Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation making the "Farmers Feeding Florida" program permanent.
The program, launched last year, helps deliver fresh produce to food banks across the state to tackle food insecurity.
WATCH: 'The bill in itself is hope': Farmers weigh in on new Florida farm bill
"We can make sure that we can fight against that idea of a child going to bed hungry, nothing can be more important than that," Senator Ben Albritton said.
Woodland Farms has five acres of agriculture. After learning about the new farm bill that will take effect in July, Tampa Bay 28 reporter Annette Gutierrez went to Land O' Lakes to listen to what farmers had to say. They said they are happy to know their land will be protected.
"The bill in itself is hope," Buck Rollings said.
Rollings is the president and owner of Woodland Farms and Omega Field Enterprises. He has owned his property in Land O' Lakes for more than 15 years. Just last year, he opened Woodland Farms with Valerie Van Stronder, who serves as the agriculture director.
"We're trying to bring back the old Florida feel like what people used to have the citrus crops because of the greening has been pretty much wiped out," Rollings said.
DeSantis signed the farm bill into law to help protect local farmers like them. Of the over 45,000 farms in Florida, DeSantis said 92 percent are family-run.
"We have not wanted to see the state of Florida just turned into a big concrete jungle," DeSantis said.
The new law will preserve land and convert surplus state land suitable for farming back into agricultural use, making land even more affordable. Van Stronder said she wishes the law had come sooner, given all the development that has already happened.
"I've seen all of the rural lands kind of disappear. And so it's really nice that he's trying to keep some of rural Florida together so that we can preserve it before it's all gone," Van Stronder said.
Rollings and Van Stronder said farming is unfortunately a dying business because of how expensive it is.
"We do this because we love it, we're not trying to make millions and millions of dollars, but at the same time, it's really difficult and we can see why a lot of people get out of it," Rollings said.
"Some of these lands that are suitable for farming, I mean, they should be used so that we can have more access to food," Van Stronder said.
The law also prevents local bans on gas-powered farm and lawn equipment and adds a loan repayment program to support veterinarians who treat farm animals.
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