Jeff Williams
Highlands County Farm Bureau President

Jeff Williams was elected as the new Highlands County Farm Bureau (HCFB) President at the county’s annual meeting last fall. He and his family own and operate W A Williams Citrus Nursery, Inc. in Highlands County. The third generation farmer comes from a long line of nursery producers and citrus growers.

“I am homegrown in Avon Park and was born into the citrus business,” Williams said. The business is named after Williams’ late grandfather.

In 1984 citrus canker struck the family operation, and four years later, W A Williams passed away. “He lost his livelihood and we lost him,” Williams recalls. The family endured another tragedy when Williams’ father suffered a stroke.

Williams has carried the torch in the family business for 20 years now. Along with being a full-time citrus nursery producer, Williams is a part-time officer to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Department.

W A Williams Citrus Nursery, Inc. currently runs and oversees two greenhouses, each one measuring 108′ X 34′ and holds approximately ten thousand citrus trees per house.

“In doing so, I was able to continue my grandfather’s legacy by operating under his original license and name, W A Williams Citrus Nursery, Inc.,” Williams mentioned. “This means the world to me.”

Williams has recently diversified into hemp production. “The site has been approved by Commissioner Nikki Fried, we got the license and permit to cultivate and we are excited about this venture,” he said.

Williams has been married to his wife Becky for 27 years. They have two children, a daughter, Alexis, and a son, Joshua. “We are expecting our first grandchild any day now,” Williams said excitedly.  His son, Joshua, is finishing up courses to obtain his commercial pilot’s license at just 22 years old.

Williams is following in his father’s footsteps in serving on the Highlands County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. He also serves as a board member on the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association. He expressed his appreciation for both the active board and Highlands County Young Farmers and Ranchers. “I am very proud of them and what they put their sights on,” he said.

Highlands County Farm Bureau supports youth education. They host an annual dinner each spring that honors the local FFA youth who participate in the fair. “We recognize the kids that show in the fair and feed the families,” explained Williams. The students get to network with the local Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee while enjoying a recognition dinner with their families.

HCFB holds an annual Cracker Shoot that welcomes 150 visitors. “We serve breakfast and lunch, promote Farm Bureau and keep relationships up with members,” he said. “It’s a really great time.”

Williams hopes that his son will one day take part in the family business and hopes to leave a legacy of faith to his children. “There is power in prayer and I am proof of it,” he said.  He explained that after losing 1,000 acres of citrus groves to greening, he doesn’t feel like he deserves to still be in business. He credits his success to the grace of God.

When asked for his favorite recipe, Williams replied, “There aren’t too many recipes I don’t like. You can’t beat some country fried chicken with corn bread (he credits his wife Becky) and fresh vegetables.” His dessert of choice is peach cobbler.

June FloridAgriculture eNews

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By Jack Payne

Ten years ago, the UF/IFAS beef teaching unit’s structures were condemned as uninhabitable. Our pollinator research headquarters was an oversized closet. We were sifting through what the world had learned about HLB over the previous century and found astonishingly little. We didn’t have the space to gather our Extension corps under one roof for trainings. Our teaching forest headquarters was a pile of ashes.

UF/IFAS was never broken. But there was room for improvement when I got here in 2010. The decade since has been one of remarkable progress for the research and innovation arm of your business.

The UF/IFAS Extension Straughn Professional Development Center came first. With its opening, we no longer had to cram agents into conference rooms, incur ballroom rental expenses, or strategize how to find hundreds of parking spaces in the campus core. We opened an auditorium-sized training center worthy of the men and women who serve you most directly. Just as important, there are more Extension agents to train than there were 10 years ago.

The opening of the Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab propelled us to becoming one of the nation’s leading centers on pollinator expertise. That will make a huge difference for years to come for those of you who grow watermelons, blueberries, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe and many seed crops.

We rebuilt the Beef Teaching Unit so that it’s now equipped to provide training for agriculture teachers, Extension agents, ranchers and 4-H volunteer leaders. Its dormitory immerses future cattle professionals in the experience of caring for animals, not just reading about them. We rebuilt the Austin Cary Forest Roland T. Stern Learning Center, too, thanks in part to Farm Bureau support.

I would argue that we learned more about HLB in the past decade than the rest of the world did in the previous century. Our breakthroughs in nutrition and other management strategies have kept infected groves profitable while we continue to develop citrus varieties that show promise of HLB tolerance.

Speaking of varieties, we added six scientists to our already elite plant breeding team. The team has released 271 cultivars over the past decade. Those are opportunities to grow fruits, vegetables, turf and ornamentals that just weren’t there in 2010.

In fact, during a recent campus lecture, Farm Bureau member Brittany Lee was asked how to save the Florida blueberry industry. UF/IFAS blueberry breeder Patricio Muñoz was in the audience, and Lee looked at him and said, “The solution is Patricio.”

We invested in equipment, land and facilities in Suwannee Valley to turn what had been a demonstration farm into a branch of the North Florida Research and Education Center. Research has accelerated so fast that there’s a waiting list for use of its 400-plus acres.

You can’t be all things to all people, but in a state with 300 commodities you have to try. No matter what your crop is, chances are UF/IFAS is serving you better today than 10 years ago. Chances are, too, that my successor will see room for improvement, and I expect he will someday be able to talk about how much better UF/IFAS is than it was in 2020.

Jack Payne is the University of Florida’s senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources and leader of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The main objective of the “Meet Your Local Farmer & Rancher” event is to create opportunities for farmers and ranchers to communicate with, educate and connect with consumers on where and how their food is raised and produced.

Download the Meet Your Local Farmer & Rancher toolkit.

The main objective of the Friends of Forestry event is to spotlight the use of renewable resources and communicate to the general public the economic and environmental benefits of using paper versus plastic bags.

Download the Friends of Forestry toolkit here.

Other Resources

Florida Forestry Facts

Goods from the Woods

Benefits of Paper Bags

Advantages of Paper Bags vs. Plastic Bags

Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services – Florida Forest Service

Arbor Day Information

The main objective for using this social media campaign is to maximize the educational reach of a county Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) program while creating a conversational platform through social media which promotes local Florida commodities while they are in season. County YF&R programs are encouraged to use the hashtags provided. For seasonal agricultural products, this toolkit provides a method for users to highlight Florida products in season throughout the year.

Download the #NowInSeason toolkit here.

Other Resources

Social Media Tips to Help Boost Post Performance

Fast Facts on Agriculture to Add Impact to Your Posts

FDACS-Crops in Season

The main objective for the Harvest For All event is to help provide food for those in need by organizing a gleaning or a donation of non-marketable produce. You can also include a food collection or donation during your #GrowingOurLeaders educational events. There are also national competitions based on participation in Harvest for All programs.

Download the Harvest for All toolkit here.

Other Resources

Harvest for All flyer

Maps for Feeding Florida Food Banks

Information on Volunteering at Food Banks

AFBF Press Release on 2018 Harvest for All Program

Baker County Farm Bureau, District 3

Baker County Farm Bureau President Robert Norman is part of a community effort supporting local farmers. Baker County Farm Bureau, along with Columbia, Clay, Duval, Nassau and Putnam/St. Johns Counties, have joined together to purchase $39,000 worth of food from local farmers and plan to distribute it to those in need.

“There are two kind of people in this world – those that worry about rain and those that go outside and work until it rains,” he said. “There is always a reason to not do something. Be the person that does it anyway.”

This relief effort is just one of the ways that Farm Bureau gives back.

Baker County Farm Bureau has 2,120 members and they promote agriculture in their community through the local FFA and 4H groups, along with partnering with UF/IFAS for annual events. “Every fall in conjunction with Farm-City Week, we partner with UF/IFAS to put food baskets together to hand out to families in need,” Norman said.

Every year around Labor Day, Baker County Farm Bureau joins with the Baker County FFA Alumni Association to host the “Swine in the Pines” festival. The one-day event promotes hog farming in the Southeastern United States.

Norman grew up in McClenny and currently lives on his family farm, Double N Farms, in Manning, FL with his wife of 37 years, Tammy, their two daughters and five grandchildren.

“I got involved with agriculture by growing chickens for Tyson,” he said.  “When they (Tyson) left Florida, I got involved with food distribution as a maintenance operations manager.”

The Normans are currently re-fencing their property and getting it ready for raising cows. He explained that his passion for agriculture lies in the process of raising crops, watching them grow and knowing that others are enjoying them.

Robert shared with us a favorite family recipe:

Robert’s Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

INGREDIENTS
– Capful of vegetable oil
– Capful of barbecue sauce
– ½ cup cider vinegar
– ½ cup chicken broth
– Handful of brown sugar
– Squirt of yellow mustard
– Tease of Worcestershire sauce
– Touch of chili powder
– Big onion chopped
– Crushed fresh garlic
– Pinch of thyme
– 4-5 lb. pork roast

DIRECTIONS
– Throw the oil in the bottom of the cooker and put the pig roast in next. Pour the barbecue sauce on and cover up the roast with the cider and chicken broth.
– Throw in the brown sugar and the squirt of yellow mustard. Toss in onion, chili powder, garlic and thyme.
– Cook for five to six hours.
Remove from the cooker and shred meat with big forks. It should fall apart!
– Throw back into the slow cooker and stir meat in juices, keeping it covered.

FloridAgriculture eNews | May 2020

Giving back is a tradition of Farm Bureau county Farm Bureaus, even amid a pandemic. Multiple county Farm Bureaus have donated to community food banks, helped link farmers and ranchers to local citizens to distribute fresh produce and coordinated various food and peanut butter drives.

Marion County Farm Bureau has donated $15,374 in COVID-19 relief to the First Step Food Bank, Inc., in Marion County. The food bank works with various food banks and pantries to distribute items to local citizens. Marion County Farm Bureau also donated $1,000 to the Victory2020 Gardens Project sponsored by the Marion County 4-H Office. The project provides virtual gardening tips and modules from UF/IFAS Extension in Columbia and Marion Counties.

Baker, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Nassau and Putnam-St. Johns County Farm Bureaus contributed $39,000 to purchase from area farmers affected by COVID-19 in North Florida.  Lake County Farm Bureau presented a $10,000 check to Irene O’Malley of Lake Cares Food Pantry to support citizens in need of food assistance.

These are just a few examples of how county Farm Bureaus have given back during COVID-19.