It comes as no surprise that Andrew Gerren’s Stuart home is filled with plants. In fact, it’s inundated, he says. This summer alone, he has harvested pineapple, soursop, jackfruit, chia, Moringa, and a heap of herbs, all from the small space at his home he has lovingly turned into a miniature grove.
Personal bounty aside, Gerren is making an impact beyond the confines of his home and into greater Martin County. An expert in organic sustainable agriculture, he has found that base with Newfield Farm, a 170-acre sustainable community that is currently being developed in Palm City.
In his role as lead farm educator and manager at Newfield— which was conceived by land owner Knight Kiplinger and is being developed by Mattamy Homes—Gerren will work alongside the farm’s 3,400-acre residential community to manage the year-round food production and core operations and oversee educational programming. Big plans are in store for the farm, including hosting future residents (and the broader public) to cultivate their own vegetables and herbs while inviting them to select from vegetables, herbs, flowers, and more grown at the farm.
“This vision of making agriculture a vibrant and central part of this community really
resonated with me,” Gerren says. And after understanding his journey, it’s easy to see why.
It could be said that the seeds of Gerren’s career were planted in his family’s backyard
garden in Massachusetts. In a corner of their yard, the Gerren family planted a small but diverse garden that grew various fruits, including tomatoes. Even after the family moved to Florida, farm-based produce was a constant for the Gerrens, with weekend trips to U-pick farms to hand-select seasonal fruits and vegetables.
As an adult, Gerren’s deep dive into the natural world began about 20 years ago, sparked by a focus on health and wanting to understand where the food he ate came from. He committed to a vegan diet and developed an interest in wild edible plants and herbal medicine. In 2011, he founded Garden to Gardens Inc., a gardening and landscaping company that helped hundreds of people grow edible gardens, incorporate permaculture design, and build sustainable food systems.
Four years later, in an effort to extend his growing relationship with plants, Gerren enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to study the science of ethnobotany. Part pharmacology and part chemistry, ethnobiology is an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between plants and human cultures. As Gerren explains: “Ethnobotany is a dynamic, fluid science that blends traditional plant knowledge with modern science and how plants can be used in medicine, food, rituals, and ceremonies.”
His studies took him to the Philippines and the island of Vanuatu, where he saw how important the kava plant is to its residents. “In Vanuatu, there is a lot of reverence to plants that’s tied to religious and cultural beliefs,” Gerren says. “Often, if there’s a quarrel among villagers, they discuss it over kava. That’s an example of how critical a role plants play in some cultures. There’s a reason why they say Vanuatu is one of the happiest
countries in the world.”
After graduating, Gerren spent two years in Jamaica volunteering as an environmental and sustainable agriculture facilitator for the Peace Corps. He returned to South Florida in 2021, taking with him a deep appreciation for nature—and now he is applying his passion and knowledge at Newfield.
“Culture plant knowledge is important in Florida, and understanding historic practices of food and paying respect to the land that you are on is something I look forward to showing at Newfield,” he says.
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