April 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Florida Farm Bureau Federation has partnered with the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) to provide H-2A filing services to members. Florida Farm Bureau members have access to FFVA’s experienced team, who can assist with filing H-2A applications and securing the seasonal workforce for operational needs. 

To be eligible for H-2A filing services, Florida Farm Bureau members must be in good standing and a principal member of the corporate entity to be listed as the employer on the H-2A applications. Such corporate entities must meet the definition of “Fixed-Site Employer” as defined in the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A program regulations at 20 C.F.R. § 655.103(b).

As an H-2A filing agent for administrative purposes only, FFVA will prepare and submit the following H- 2A labor certification and visa petition materials on employers’ behalf pursuant to all H-2A program regulations:

1. Form ETA-790A – Agricultural Clearance Order (H-2A Job Order)

H-2A job orders must be submitted 75 to 60 days before the employer’s first date of need. Employers should contact FFVA at least 90 days before the date of need for time to prepare the application.

1. Form ETA-9142A – H-2A Application for Temporary Employment Certification
2. I-129 – Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker (Visa Petition)

Once visa approval has been issued by USCIS, FFVA’s H-2A Services will be considered complete, though FFVA may be available to assist with ancillary matters.

The employer is responsible for recruiting workers and for coordinating consular processing. FFVA does not provide or engage in recruitment services but will assist employers in identifying a recruitment or consular processing service if needed.

For more information or to get started with H-2A services, please email [email protected]. 

April 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter 

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

Levy County Farm Bureau board member Aaron Lane is among the first to know about fertilizer innovations and how they work on his farm because of his partnership with UF/IFAS.

UF/IFAS scientists Mark Warren, Shivendra Kumar and Bob Hochmuth take what they see in the lab or on their research fields and test it on Lane’s farm to see if it works in the real world.

On Lane’s farm they’ve run trials on cool season forages, controlled release fertilizer for watermelon and Bermudagrass, forage herbicides, Bermudagrass variety establishment, and drip fertigation fertilizer uniformity.

The innovation that farmer and scientist pursue together keep farmers in business. And it’s key to reducing annual nitrogen use to help meet water quality goals for the Suwannee Valley.

Every year UF/IFAS and the Farm Bureau celebrate the gains we’re making toward that goal, one farm at a time, at Suwannee CARES, a celebration at the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center—Suwannee Valley (NFREC-SV). The event highlights producers for their unpaid environmental stewardship as they make a living feeding Florida and the nation.

Please join me, Warren, Lane and hundreds of your fellow Farm Bureau members on May 1 for this year’s Suwannee CARES event. Register here.

Lane is a past honoree. The trials have helped him stay profitable and served as a model for how other Suwannee Valley farmers can meet water quality goals. The on-farm trials can show where innovations result in savings for farmers, and where the costs aren’t worth it.

In the ongoing trial of controlled release fertilizer on hay at Lane’s farm, so far the costs aren’t worth it. Lane suspected as much beforehand. A season’s worth of data reaffirmed that. But it also set the stage for trying a lower-cost fertilizer to see if scientist and farmer can make it pencil out at harvest time.

The reason Lane was even willing to explore this on 10 acres of his land was that he trusts Levy County Extension Director Warren. For six years Warren has given him answers to his questions instantly or said eight magic words that reaffirm his honesty and trustworthiness: “I don’t know, but I can find out.”

Warren doesn’t ask Lane to pay the costs of the field trial – Lane is already taking a risk with his land. Thanks to best management practices cost share and incentive programs from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Suwannee River Water Management District, the additional cost of the new fertilizer and the time and effort of the UF/IFAS scientific team is covered.

But for Lane, on-farm trials still mean giving scientists access to his land, allowing them to collect data that represents trade secrets, coordinating his operation so as not to interfere with the research, and risking a reduced yield. That’s a harder bargain to make with a scientist who’s a stranger.

Neither of us can do this alone. We need to be scientific partners. Warren and Lane exemplify the mutual trust on which that partnership is based.

J. 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 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

As of March 17, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that businesses failing to file their Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports by the upcoming March 21, 2025, deadline will not face fines, penalties, or enforcement actions. This decision follows a series of legal challenges and court decisions affecting the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

Initially, the CTA mandated that most U.S. businesses, including corporations and limited liability companies, report their beneficial ownership information to FinCEN starting January 1, 2024. Entities created or registered before this date were given until January 1, 2025, to comply, while those formed afterward had shorter reporting windows.

However, due to ongoing litigation challenging the CTA’s constitutionality, enforcement of these reporting requirements has been inconsistent. Notably, a federal district court in Texas issued an injunction in December 2024, temporarily blocking the enforcement of the CTA. Although this injunction was later lifted, the legal proceedings have introduced uncertainty regarding compliance deadlines.

In light of this uncertainty, FinCEN extended the BOI reporting deadline to March 21, 2025, but has since clarified that it will not enforce penalties for non-compliance by this date. FinCEN plans to issue an interim final rule before March 21, 2025, to establish new deadlines and provide further guidance to businesses.

Businesses are advised to stay informed about these developments and prepare to comply with BOI reporting requirements once the new deadlines are established.

For more information, click here.

March 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Lake Okeechobee recession is continuing due to Recovery Operations, as well as increasing evapotranspiration and water supply deliveries.

As of February 17^th, 2025, the lake stage is 14.04 feet, which is down 0.14 feet over the last week, and 0.56 feet over the last month. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the South Florida Water management District (District) are maintaining Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) Recovery Operations where LOSOM release guidance is up to 2,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the S-79 structure west into the Caloosahatchee River, 1,400 cfs total east to the St. Lucie River, and max practical releases to increase flow to the south.

Average flows for the last week from Lake Okeechobee to the east and west have averaged 500 and 1,500 cfs, respectively, towards the downstream targets with 1,300 cfs going to the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) for water supply, and 1,400 cfs to the stormwater treatment areas (STAs). The lake stage is currently in Zone D2 (see graphic below), where LOSOM guidance without recovery operations being implemented would be up to 750 cfs at S-79 and zero east to the St. Lucie with maximum beneficial flows south.

Discharges made south from the Upper Kissimmee Lakes are being made to reach the June 1^st low pool targets. Lake Kissimmee is below schedule with decreasing releases to the river channel.

Figure 1. Lake Okeechobee stage as of 17 February 2025.

The Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) are exclusively treating water from Lake Okeechobee. The latest 28-day STA inflow concentrations in the Eastern Restoration Strategies flow path range from 158 to 191 parts per billion (ppb) of phosphorus, with outflows from the STAs ranging from 18 to 26 ppb. Inflow concentrations in the Central flow path range from 83 to 101 ppb, with outflows ranging from 12 t0 17 ppb. The Western flow path, STA 5/6, has had no inflow for the last several months.

Most STA cells, or sections within the whole STA, are near their target stages, but many flow ways still have stressed vegetation conditions. There are operational restrictions in place for most of the STAs for vegetation management and/or construction activities.

Water Conservation Area (WCA) stages are decreasing, and some northern areas have water near ground surface (see depth graphic below). WCA-1 is at and receding with its schedule with no outflows to WCA-2A or to tide. WCA-2A is 0.97 feet above schedule with only water supply deliveries being made to Broward County. WCA-3A is 0.80 feet below schedule with large areas in the south below historical averages, but still above ground surface.

Everglades National Park is continuing to receive water into the dry season based on Tamiami Trail Flow Formula (TTFF) targets. WCA-3A is below schedule and the TTFF calls for 981 cfs from WCA-3A. The S-12C and S-12D structures and the S-333 structures are open and delivering 986 cfs into the park. Hydrologic connectivity within Shark River and Taylor Sloughs has diminished over the past two months, however, depths remain conducive for water flow. The S-356 structure is off, with diminished seepage and lower canal stages. The S-332D and S-200 are pumping water into the detention areas as needed to control South Dade canal stages. The gate from the Frog Pond detention area into Taylor Slough is open. Florida Bay flow and salinity metrics remain well outside of all harm thresholds.

Figure 2. Water Conservation Area water levels as of 17 February 2025.

March 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

How has UF/IFAS helped your business? I’m eager to hear it and hope you’ll let me know. But for the next three months I’m even more eager for you to tell your state representatives.

The Legislature starts its session in March, and it will be voting on funding for UF/IFAS science. I have been meeting with legislators for months already to get them to yes on these votes.

A constituent (you) can often get greater traction than a university administrator can. I hope I can count on you to help us help you.

Please join President Smith, your leadership team, and me in Tallahassee on March 18 at the Legislative Briefing Breakfast. President Smith has granted me the opportunity to personally thank you at the breakfast for the day you’ll spend meeting with legislators and staff.

Our legislative budget requests can help Florida agriculture in numerous ways:

• Extension expansion, $5 million: For state or regional Extension agents devoted to farm profitability, workforce development and environmental resilience.
• Workload, $6.5 million: Agriculture’s needs are increasing and more complex, so we need to invest more in the research and Extension personnel to meet those needs.
• Florida 4-H Camp Cherry Lake, $5.6 million: Address current and future workforce needs by providing year-round science, agriculture, and technology workforce programs for 6,000 youth at camp with improvements, that will support this goal.
• Artificial intelligence, $4.5 million: Fund faculty, staff, and administrative positions for the UF/IFAS Center for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture focused on design, construction, evaluation and demonstration of AI-based technologies that we can bring to your farm faster.
• Nutrient management, $6 million: We need to finish food crop projects so that the most up-to-date science informs fertilizer rate recommendations to keep you profitable.
• Crop Transformation Center, $5 million: Invest in using biotech tools to rapidly develop new cultivars. While the center’s early work focuses on citrus, we will expand the expedited processes to many more crops.

Crops and politics are in season year-round, and not just in Tallahassee. The state is a checkerboard of regulations on irrigation, fertilization and land use made by local officials.

We believe at UF/IFAS that these regulations should be evidence-based and rely on solid science. Just like there’s always a new challenge for science to solve in the greenhouse, so is there an endless array of public policy questions whose answers can be informed by science.

We need to marshal ever greater scientific forces to keep up with these challenges and questions.

If you have a story about how UF/IFAS has helped your farm, please email me about it so I can share it when I’m in Tallahassee. And while you’re at it, please email that story to your elected officials, too.

J. 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).

February 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

In the final week of the Biden Administration, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA had withdrawn its rule entitled Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets, marking the second time such a rule had been halted.

As in the previous version, the rule intended to address unfair practices being undertaken by packers governed by the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA).  In effect, the rule would have lowered the threshold for legal action against a PSA regulated party, by not requiring proof of harm to either the industry or a single party.  Furthermore, the rule did not define who is a covered party under PSA, opening the door to any individual or consumer to bring legal action.

Florida Farm Bureau opposed the ruling.  In announcing the withdrawal of the rule, Secretary Vilsack stated there wasn’t enough time left in the administration to finalize the rule and keep the original intent.

For more information, contact the Florida Farm Bureau Ag Policy team.

February 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

At high noon on January 20^th, 2025, President Donald J. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance took the oath of office and thus, the Trump 47 administration was off and running.

In his first week back in office, President Trump has taken significant actions through executive orders and key Cabinet appointments.

In his first week, President Trump issued 35 executive orders, 12 memoranda and four proclamations, addressing various policy areas.

Notably, he signed executive orders declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, ending the refugee resettlement program and attempting to restrict birthright citizenship, though the latter has been temporarily halted by a federal court.

Additionally, President Trump issued an executive order recognizing only “two sexes, male and female,” affecting various policies including passports and access to single-sex spaces.

As for cabinet confirmations, the Senate has confirmed several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees:

• Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
• Treasury Secretary: Scott Bessent
• Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth (confirmed by a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Vance)
• Secretary of Homeland Security: Kristi Noem
• CIA Director: John Ratcliffe

Other nominees, such as Pam Bondi for Attorney General, Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior and Brooke Rollins for Secretary of Agriculture have completed their confirmation hearings and are awaiting votes.

The week of January 27^th, confirmation hearings were held to examine the nominations of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kashyap Patel for Director of the FBI and Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence.

These actions and appointments reflect the administration’s priorities in areas like immigration, national security and social policy.

The newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins sat for her confirmation hearing on Thursday, January 23^rd.  In her hearing she highlighted:

• Trade Tariffs: Rollins indicated a willingness to implement direct payments to farmers to offset losses from proposed tariffs, similar to strategies used during Trump’s first term.
• Ethanol and Farm Subsidies: Rollins was questioned about her past leadership of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which opposed ethanol mandates and farm subsidies. She acknowledged these positions and discussed her current views during the hearing.
• Wildfire Response: Rollins emphasized that responses to wildfires should not be influenced by politics and committed to deploying resources equally across all states.

Next, because U.S. Senator Marco Rubio was confirmed for his new role as U.S. Secretary of State, he resigned from his seat in the U.S. Senate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Florida’s Attorney General, Ashley Moody to the vacant seat. Moody will be up for re-election in 2026 and again in 2028, if successfully re-elected.

Lastly, due to vacancies in Florida Congressional Districts 1 and 6, special elections were scheduled for the primary and general election. The primary took place on Tuesday, January 28 and the general election will take place on Tuesday, April 1.

President Trump endorsed Republican candidates Jimmy Patronis for Congressional District 1 and Randy Fine for Congressional District 6. Both are expected victors in those races.

Thank you to our Florida Farm Bureau members for their efforts and advocacy at the grassroots level.  The National Affairs office looks forward to welcoming members to Washington D.C., for the annual Field to the Hill trip, April 1-3, 2025.

February 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

At UF/IFAS we’re making another investment in artificial intelligence (AI) to support Florida farmers. It’s not a machine. It’s a dean.

I can’t think of anyone who has devoted more time and thought to preparing the future workforce for an AI-driven world than Kati Migliaccio. That’s a big part of why I chose her to be the first new dean of the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) in a decade.

As AI in Florida agriculture evolves, Migliaccio will reshape the education of the people who will work in it, some of them in jobs that don’t even exist yet.

In fact, she’s been doing it for years already. She led the group that developed a university-wide plan to ensure all students have access to opportunities to acquire AI knowledge and skills.

Migliaccio is an engineer and brings that problem-solving mindset to complex challenges. During her six years as chair of the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) she championed a holistic approach to innovation, encouraging teams to consider how individual problems and solutions interact and contribute to the bigger picture, rather than addressing each issue in isolation.

She has also marshalled the expertise of other UF colleges, especially the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, to seek solutions to agricultural challenges.

As dean, her focus on AI-related instruction will also now benefit students in departments such as Family, Youth and Community Sciences or Food Science and Human Nutrition.

Her engineer’s focus on practical solutions to real-world problems has helped drive a campaign to build a new workshop for ABE. We held a groundbreaking in the fall to kick off construction of the facility. When it’s done, it will be a hub for hands-on learning, where students can learn to use tools and develop technological prototypes you’ll be using as the AI-literate corps of graduates begin working for and with you.

She has also emerged as a leader in standing up agricultural technology workforce development programs statewide through our state college partners.

Engineers like Migliaccio also share an ethic of striving for continuous improvement and experimentation. That’s what has kept her department near the top for so long. At a university with lots of engineering departments, ABE ranks by far the highest, perennially in the top 10 nationally.

Migliaccio brings this ethic to her new job. CALS is already one of the top schools in the nation. To become the best, we need someone who never stops trying to improve things.

Migliaccio demonstrates and fosters the culture of excellence I seek across all UF/IFAS. With few peers matching our level of distinction nationally, a culture of excellence will help us compete with ourselves—striving to be better this year than last. To do more for our farmers and ranchers and foresters and fishers, as well as those who manage our natural resources.

A culture of excellence supports students with a world-class education, combining great instruction with practical experiences like internships. CALS will continue to produce graduates ready for work, advanced studies or service.

Those graduates will be ready to help you help Florida feed the world.

J. 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).

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 what we call the AgTech Accelerator, we’re combining Senator Albritton’s call for a rural renaissance with our vision to make Florida the Silicon Valley of agriculture.

Homegrown technologies, talent and businesses are going to bring greater prosperity to places that have in the view of many been left behind in our state’s most recent economic boom.

It’s just the right time for this as Florida agriculture is about to be transformed by artificial intelligence. UF/IFAS was already dedicating research and Extension teams make AI useful and affordable on your farm, for example.

Now UF/IFAS and FFBF are mobilizing state colleges, technical schools and high schools to establish or redesign agricultural technology training programs. The agricultural jobs of the future will require education ranging from degrees at UF to two-year state college degrees to certifications that can be earned in just months.

UF/IFAS can create curriculum, host technology demonstrations, and connect colleges to industry partners.

FFBF leadership brings insight on what challenges we actually need to help farmers address so they can contribute even more to the economies of their communities.

FFBF subsidiary Agriculture Education Services & Technology already offers certifications in at least 10 specializations. We’ll need to build on that with state college programs that reach every county and a wider array of specializations.

Our vision is for a series of hubs of technical expertise at UF/IFAS Extension offices and research farms. Farmers, students and anyone with a great idea could come to these hubs for job skill development, entrepreneurship training or advice on how to turn ideas into products in the marketplace.

This will turbocharge your local economy in three ways. It starts with developing a tech-savvy local workforce as your sons, daughters, employees and future employees get the education and training they need without having to move away.

In addition, these regional hubs will foster creation of homegrown businesses as they help local entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas. Third, the centers will be magnets for investors looking for opportunity in rural communities and for businesses seeking affordable communities with a well-trained local workforce.

We and Senator Albritton have the same aim – to create high-paying jobs in rural areas and to make sure we have local talent to fill those jobs.

The Florida Department of Commerce and Department of Education are stepping up with funding for the early iterations of our partnerships with state colleges to launch agtech workforce training pilot projects.

It’s been invaluable to have:

• FFBF President Jeb Smith with us in Ocala to talk out this vision with Central College of Florida;
• Raulie Raulerson and Kyndall Bauer joining us in Apopka to strategize with Valencia College;
• Hannah Love and Keitha Bennett and their background in certification at our discussion with Santa Fe College;
• District 5 field representative Greg Harden’s experience with assessing farmers’ needs as we met in Palatka with Johns River State College.

Please help us bring the AgTech Accelerator to your community by letting your FFBF field representative and your legislative officials know how important technology is to Florida farming’s future.

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).

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 receiving applications for this review cycle shall end at 5:00 p.m. EST on January 29, 2025.  Applications received after the application review cycle deadline will not be considered and will be returned to the applicant.

The application form can be downloaded here.  Applications can be submitted online via https://rflppapplication.fdacs.gov/or by US Mail carrier or hand delivery to: FDACS, Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, 315 South Calhoun St. Suite 500, Tallahassee, Florida 32301.

The applicant will be notified of any deficiency and instructions for resubmission. If the required information is not received in writing via the RFLPP application form within five (5) business days of the applicant’s receipt of the notice of deficiency, the application will be rejected.

Interested parties may obtain more information from the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program website at: http://www.FDACS.gov/RFLPP or by calling (850) 681-5828 or emailing [email protected].