News

January 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter By J. Scott Angle [email protected] @IFAS_VP   Senate President Ben Albritton has called for a “rural renaissance,” built in part on technologies that support agriculture. UF/IFAS and the Florida Farm Bureau Federation are answering that call by developing the talent pipeline to use those technologies. Through…

January 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) recently announced that an application period for the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program begins on December 18, 2024, for preservation of important agricultural lands through acquisition of perpetual easements on working agricultural lands. The deadline for…

January 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter On December 16, 2024, the South Florida Water Management District joined the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Garcia Land Management, LLC and many other local, state and federal partners to celebrate the completion of a new dispersed water…

January 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began releases under Lake Okeechobee Recovery Operations on December 7, 2024. For the past five years, Lake Okeechobee has experienced several storm events and extended moderately high lake stages. This has led to degraded ecological conditions within the lake,…

Florida Farm Bureau industry leaders will be inducted into the 2025 Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame at the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame Banquet February 11 at 7:00 p.m., 2025. Conservationists and cattle ranchers Cary and Marcia Lightsey of Polk County have committed 80 percent…

December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter Effective December 4, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated Application Exclusion Zones (AEZ), which include additional precautions to protect workers and bystanders during pesticide applications. The AEZ refers to the area immediately surrounding the pesticide application equipment, and only exists during the application,…

December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has selected a UF/IFAS-run center for food safety training to coordinate similar facilities across the country. The USDA’s decision means the Southern Center for Food Safety Modernization Act Training will continue serving as the Lead Regional Coordination…

December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing to list the Black Creek crayfish (Procambarus pictus), a crayfish species from Florida, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. USFWS also proposes to designate critical habitat for the Black Creek crayfish under…

December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter By J. Scott Angle [email protected] @IFAS_VP Four Florida Farm Bureau leaders at October’s annual meeting gave me four different ways of thinking about how much agriculture does for the people lucky enough or wise enough to make it their livelihood. I sat with each of the…

December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter Last month, the presidential election took place and sent a rippling effect across the State of Florida. This summary provides an overview of how this election season will impact the political arena in Florida. Former President Donald J. Trump won the presidential election with 312 electoral…

Grassroots members hosted a variety of events last week to celebrate the valuable partnerships between urban and rural communities that ensure food travels from the farm gate to the dinner plate. These celebrations were part of Farm-City Week, celebrated the week before Thanksgiving to…

This Thanksgiving, Americans can expect to spend less on their Thanksgiving meal than they did in 2023.   According to a recent survey done by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the average price of a12-item Thanksgiving basket for 10 people is $58.08…