April 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

Craig Watson is an icon in Florida aquaculture. He didn’t create the tropical fish industry in Florida. But he helped build it into a community. Farm Bureau was there from the beginning. Thirty years ago, the industry sought a scientific hub. Watson was an Extension agent serving as technical adviser to the Florida Farm Bureau Aquaculture Advisory Committee, and he asked its farmer members (including Marty Tanner, who today is its chair) and FFBF staff member Kevin Morgan (now retired) to advocate for the funding to build and staff what became the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Lab in Ruskin (TAL).

TAL started with Watson, a veterinarian, a wildlife specialist and a secretary. Over the years, the lab team grew to some 18 people between faculty, staff and students. All the while, Watson continued to serve the Advisory Committee, making many trips to Gainesville over the decades to visit the headquarters of both UF/IFAS and Farm Bureau.

Watson retired in March as the only director in TAL’s 27-year history. Among those who attended his retirement party were Jason Mathis, who today is in a Farm Bureau staff role similar to what Morgan’s was in 30 years ago.

Mathis says two things cement Watson as a Florida agriculture icon. One is that Watson made service to industry the center of the lab’s mission – not publishing papers or pursuing grants (although the team does that, too). Watson and his team have saved fish farmers millions of dollars through veterinary care and a diagnostics lab and made them millions by introducing new breeds and innovative management techniques.

The second pillar of Watson’s legacy, Mathis says, is that Watson built a community not just on science but on relationships. Watson has friends among fish farmers, regulators, funders, research collaborators, association leaders and anyone else in the business.

The lab made many breakthroughs under Watson’s leadership, such as discovering how to farm fish like the blue tang and other aquarium favorites.

In fact, Watson made so many friends and accomplished so much that he received a lifetime achievement award from the U.S. Aquaculture Society 15 years ago. And he was inducted into the Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association Hall of Fame five years ago.

Watson knew commissioners and got Hillsborough County support for the lab. He knew USDA and made space available at TAL for a wildlife specialist. He got the National Weather Service to donate the land to start TAL.

Watson had developed relationships with producers as an Extension agent before the center existed, and he strengthened those relationships and added many more as the TAL director.

I believe one of Watson’s strongest legacies will be that he “cultured” his successor. Matt DiMaggio came to him fresh out of grad school, and for nine years, Matt blossomed into a first-rate scientist, a partner with strong ties to stakeholders and colleagues, and a leader.

DiMaggio impressed me with his vision to expand the staff and facilities at TAL and to expand its portfolio to do more work on food fish.

I also hired DiMaggio as TAL’s second-ever director for the things he won’t change. He’ll advise the FFBF Aquaculture Committee. He’ll also listen very closely to committee members and other FFBF-member fish farmers and focus the lab’s scientific team on solving their problems.

If you’re in the business, please wish Craig well and reach out to Matt.
Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and leader of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

With hurricane season just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what can be done to minimize mosquito populations and protect Florida residents from harm.

Dr. Eva Buckner, an Extension specialist at UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, reports that an increase in mosquito numbers can most likely be expected in the weeks following a hurricane.

While the flooding from hurricanes can stimulate the hatching of mosquito eggs harboring in the soil, these mosquitoes, termed floodwater mosquitoes, are considered a nuisance but do not pose a risk of transmitting viruses to people.

However, when floodwaters do not recede, standing water mosquitoes may start laying eggs on the standing water. These types of mosquitoes have been associated with the transmission of the West Nile virus. It is critical to have a hurricane recovery plan that address standing water and protection from mosquito bites.

Dr. Buckner provides tips to keep consumers from getting bitten, eliminate breeding grounds during hurricane recovery and dispel myths about mosquito-borne diseases. Read more in her blog about mosquitoes and hurricane recovery here.

Additionally, the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (PIE Center) has released a Mosquito Control Toolkit. This toolkit has education information on mosquito control and the negative impact mosquitoes can have in local communities. The toolkit includes social media posts, print media resources, infographics, videos and more.

March 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Danielle Daum
Women’s Leadership Committee Chair

Danielle Daum has spent her whole life immersed in agriculture. Having grown up on her family’s caladium farm in Highlands County, Happiness Farms, she has been involved in every aspect of the operation. Danielle is the third generation to work her family’s farm, providing top quality caladiums since 1964. Happiness Farms has since diversified into citrus production and is currently the world’s largest commercial caladium farm.

She has done everything on the farm, “From pulling weeds and packing bulbs after school to managing the office.” said Daum. She is now in charge of making sure the operation is within compliance and that both retail and wholesale customers are taken care of.

Much like farming, being a part of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation is a family affair. Danielle’s father was highly active in Farm Bureau and served on advisory committees. Naturally, Danielle found herself involved with the Young Farmers and Ranchers program in her home county, which eventually led to participation with the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee. She is one of the founders and chairwomen of the Highlands County Ag-Venture, an event that started 24 years ago and educates 1,200 third graders about agriculture every year. This event has been so successful that it has been modeled by other county and state Farm Bureaus. Danielle is happy to serve as a mentor for those looking to grow their County Farm Bureaus with such events.

When asked what she enjoys most about Farm Bureau, Daum answered “I love the people and getting the opportunity to work with like-minded individuals that also have a passion for the industry. I see the value in agriculture, and I want to encourage others to see the value in it as well.”

Having received a degree in elementary and special education from Florida Southern College, it is no surprise that Danielle has utilized her education and passion to help others understand the importance of agriculture and Farm Bureau. She currently serves as the chair of the Florida Farm Bureau State Women’s Leadership Committee, where she uses this role to continue to be a champion for the agriculture industry.

“Growing forward to me means persevering through the challenges both big and small. It’s about continuing to push forward despite challenges.” Danielle said. “Looking for the positive in every situation and always trying to do your best.”

March FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

When you use fertilizer, would you rather have science or politics as the guide for how much?

I know how your president comes down on this. Because of his testimony in Tallahassee last month, members of the Florida Senate Agriculture Committee do, too.

“We need good, solid scientific data generated by our land-grant institution,” Smith told the committee (he starts at 22:07 here). So not just science, but land-grant science. Because UF/IFAS, as your land-grant institution, gathers data so it can address your challenges.

It’s been that way for longer than any of us can remember. A few days after Smith went to Tallahassee, I was in Belle Glade to mark the centennial of the Everglades Research and Education Center. I used the occasion to highlight data that shows that over the past quarter century, local growers using farming practices guided by UF/IFAS science has cut the nutrient loads in the water coming off those farms by more than half.

That’s the kind of success story we need to replicate statewide. The timing is right, as water quality continues as one of the state’s top political priorities. President Smith’s validation of UF/IFAS science makes it more likely that evidence, not intuition, will shape the policies on how farmers fertilize.

“I just want to say that supporting funding for UF/IFAS best management practices fertilizer rate application studies is imperative. Our members and producers support sound science and its implementation,” Smith told the committee.

About 18 months ago, we started research projects across the state and in various commodities. Some of our fertilization recommendations are decades old. It’s a huge and expensive task to come up with fertilizer recommendations for so many crops in so many locations with so many different climates and soil conditions.

Last year, with the help of the Farm Bureau’s advocacy, we received substantial state support to tackle as much of this as we can. This can’t be done in a year, though, so we’re seeking a continuation of that support, and again, the Farm Bureau is there championing science.

President Smith’s endorsement of science is so important because it reflects a political reality. Lawmakers want to know that there’s a return on investment from their spending. They heard that there is from the leader of 130,000+ members of the state’s agriculture community and a longtime farmer himself.

I have no crystal ball that tells me whether funding for fertilizer rate research or any other agricultural science will get approved in the legislative session that just started. But it’s gratifying to know Farm Bureau leaders see science as crucial to agriculture’s success.

Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and leader of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

March FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This process has become popular as a method to reducing our carbon footprint and it has been taken a step further with the development of a carbon economy. Low carbon economy refers to the ecological economy based on low energy consumption and low pollution. The concept behind the creating and trading of carbon credits is to incentivize the implementation of management practices focused on the storage of carbon in the soil.

The ability to store carbon in the soil helps remove CO₂ from the atmosphere, through a process called carbon sequestration. Agriculture and natural resource management practices can facilitate carbon sequestration. These practices often align with current Best Management Practices (BMPs) including cover cropping, crop rotation, no-till and refined nutrient management.

Farmers and ranchers can generate soil carbon credits by adopting conservation practices that result in quantifiable carbon sequestration. Carbon credits are exchanged through carbon markets and payments vary by many factors, including biophysical characteristics and management practices.

A recent UF/IFAS publication on Florida’s agricultural carbon economy and the potential role of farmers and ranchers can be found here.

March FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Florida Farm Bureau’s CARES program publicly recognizes Florida farmers and ranchers who demonstrate exemplary efforts to protect Florida’s natural resources by implementing Best Management Practices.

February FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

Kayla and Matt Gonzales are unicorns in the herd. They’re first-generation agriculturalists. Just the fact that a young couple with neither family farming history nor inherited land runs 300 commercial Brangus is reason enough for optimism about Florida farming’s future.

In addition to ranching, they’re leading. They’re doing so despite lacking another invaluable commodity for people establishing themselves as food producers—time.

In the last two years, Kayla and Matt have become parents and have another child on the way, they’ve changed jobs and they’ve taken out their first land leases. Matt estimates he’s driven 50,000 miles in a year for work. Kayla is enrolled in the Florida Cattlemen’s Association Leadership Academy.

They sometimes tend to their cows in the dark after finishing their day jobs, working by the illumination of their pickup truck’s headlights and handheld flashlights. The phone in the photo is not a prop. Matt was on a work call.

For them to lead the Florida Farm Bureau’s statewide Young Farmers & Ranchers, Matt as president and Kayla as a member of the executive board, is a lesson to all of us that everyone has time to lead.

They’ve reached across generations through their leadership. Producers who began farming before Kayla and Matt were born have benefited from the UF/IFAS Extension programming that the couple and their employers have organized, sponsored or hosted. UF/IFAS animal sciences faculty member Todd Thrift says Kayla was essential to the success of the beef quality assurance training at Quincey Cattle Company (where she worked until recently taking a job with Fenco Farms) that has improved the skills and management decisions of dozens of cattle professionals.

Levy County Extension Director Ed Jennings says the support of Kayla and Matt, who works at Dairy Farmers of America) and supported Extension at his former employer, Sparr, has been important to the success of local Extension programming.

Kayla and Matt also lead by fostering next-generation agriculturalists. Kayla has spoken about careers in cattle numerous times to classes of her alma mater, the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. They’ve helped their employers hire and supervise UF/IFAS interns. Jennings said Kayla hosted visits by 4-Hers to the Quincey ranch so they could practice their judging on the animals.

Kayla and Matt also foster the future as supporters of research. UF/IFAS Professor Raluca Mateescu noted that Kayla’s understanding of research needs and her efficiency on the ranch contributed to the success of her team of more than 10 students who collected data from animals at Quincey Cattle Company for thermotolerance research.

The most important commodity that FFBF, FCA and UF/IFAS produce is leaders. We can’t create more hours in the day for Kayla and Matt, but by fostering their early-career development, we hope to have set them up for decades of leadership ahead.

Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and leader of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

July 2022 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

EPA published ‘Lifetime Drinking Water Health Advisory for Four Perfluoroalkyl Substances’ in the Federal Register on June 21, 2022.  The new health advisory levels are in the parts per quadrillion range which is not currently achievable by commercial laboratories. 

Interim updated health advisory for PFOA = 0.004 ppt 

Interim updated health advisory for PFOS = 0.02 ppt 

Final health advisory for GenX chemicals = 10 ppt 

Final health advisory for PFBS = 2,000 ppt 

Though PFAS compounds are derived in industrial processes, they have been known to impact agriculture through groundwater close to where PFAS compounds were used and through the application of biosolids on forage crops (including pasture) for livestock.    

Given EPA’s new health advisory levels, farmers and ranchers utilizing municipal biosolids need to be aware of the potential presence of PFAS compounds and the risks associated with application.   

More information about PFAS compounds and the impact on agriculture can be found on a very thorough webpage provided by Dragun Corporation.  The webpage can be accessed by clicking here. 

July 2022 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has funding available to reimburse growers for 100% of their COVID-19 Prevention & Protection expenses between April 2, 2021 and now (or until September 2025). The process to get fully reimbursed only takes a few steps. Eligible expenses are: Personal Protection Equipment (PPE): Gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, touchless thermometers, clothing and foot coverings, disinfectant spray, COVID-19 test kits.

Facility Adjustments for Worker and Product Safety: Plexiglass barriers and installation, handwashing stations, appropriate sanitary dividers and installation, portable ventilation/air filtration systems, touchless faucets and installation, touchless toilets and installation, touchless hand dryers and installation, touchless soap dispensers and installation. 

Specialty Crop Assistance Available 

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will provide assistance through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program HR133 Assistance Program for eligible expenses related to costs associated with COVID-19 prevention and protection.

To be eligible for the Specialty Crop Assistance Program, applicants must be specialty crop growers, specialty crop processors, and/or specialty crop distributors. Please refer to the USDA-AMS lists of specialty crops and eligible and ineligible crops. 

• Applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis until funds are depleted. 
• Each operation may only receive one reimbursement per year the program is offered. 
• Expenses prior to April 2, 2021 will not be approved for reimbursement. 
• Last day to apply for assistance: September 1, 2025. 
• Application reimbursement minimum: $565. 
• Program funds available: $2,735,124. 

Eligible Expenses:

Personal Protection Equipment (PPE): Gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, touchless thermometers, clothing and foot coverings, disinfectant spray,  COVID-19 test kits.

Facility Adjustments for Worker and Product Safety: Plexiglass barriers and installation, handwashing stations, appropriate sanitary dividers and installation, portable ventilation/air filtration systems, touchless  faucets and installation, touchless toilets and installation, touchless hand dryers and installation, touchless soap dispensers and installation.

Application Instructions: 

1. Register as a state vendor at www.myfloridamarketplace.com. 

1. Provide a substitute W9 form to the Florida Department of Financial Services. 

1. Complete the HR133 Assistance Program application. 

1. Provide proof of purchase: Invoices marked “paid”, cancelled checks, or other substantial documentation of any costs to be reimbursed detailing purchased item or installations. 

Where to Apply: Email the application and proof of purchase cost documentation to:  [email protected]

For additional questions call (850) 617-7397 or email [email protected].  

July 2022 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Clay Cooper
YF&R State Leadership Group, District 5

Being introduced to agriculture at a young age has cultivated a passion and appreciation in Citrus County native, Clay Cooper. Cooper’s passion began when he started showing beef heifers and steers at his county fair. Throughout the years, he decided he wanted to pursue a formal education in agriculture.

Following his college career, Cooper accepted a job as the UF/IFAS agricultural and natural resources Extension agent with Citrus County. During his six years with UF/IFAS, Cooper gained a diverse knowledge base of agriculture, preparing him for his current job as general manager of Fenco Farms. Fenco Farms focuses on beef production, specifically commercial, registered Brangus and club calves. In addition to raising beef cattle, the farm produces Bahia grass seed, hay and harvest sod.

Cooper’s involvement with Farm Bureau began when he was asked to sit on the board of directors for Hernando/Citrus County Farm Bureau. Since that first ask, Cooper has served as the Hernando/Citrus County Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee co-chair and currently serves on the YF&R State Leadership team as well as the Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s Water and Natural Resources Advisory Committee.

“One of the things I enjoy most about Farm Bureau is the fellowship, networking and seeing everyone come together as a unified voice for agriculture,” he said. “Florida agriculture is constantly evolving and it is refreshing to see a group of like-minded people continue to push forward to preserve and conserve our way of life.”

During his time in YF&R, Cooper has seen firsthand how Farm Bureau members in his county have given back to their community. Every holiday season, the Hernando/Citrus County YF&R group hosts fundraisers in partnership with local school programs.

The schools identify families that are in need and the money raised provides meals for them. Throughout the last couple of years, they have been able to provide meals for more than 400 families. Cooper is proud of the growth and success of this fundraiser.

With his involvement in agriculture, Cooper has witnessed firsthand the resiliency of farmers and ranchers and has learned how to be resilient himself.

“Agriculture is ever changing and each of us must find ways to become more efficient and innovative within our commodity groups,” he stated. “Farming and ranching is more than a job. It truly is a lifestyle and something that you have to be passionate about. It honestly does take resiliency to push through some of the hard times, but at the end of the day, I don’t know of many careers that are any more rewarding.”