Tag Archives: FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Financial Planning Tips to Increase Profitability

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August 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Justin Little
Financial Expert
Nutrien Financial

The financial health of the operations Florida growers manage depends on several variables: weather, commodity prices, interest rates and other market-driven fluctuations that impact costs. Florida growers face some of the most extreme conditions in the country, which only exacerbates these uncertainties. You can’t influence a lot of these variables, like the timing of the next hurricane, diseases pressure or changes in interest rates, but proactive management of your money with financial planning can create some certainty to take pressure off your profitability equation.

If you don’t have a financial plan, or haven’t revisited it in a while, it’s a good time to have a conversation with your crop consultant and folks in your circle with financial expertise. Building and maintaining healthy farm finances requires partnership and communication with people who have both agronomic and economic expertise. With that information, you’ll have the best view of where you’re at, where you can go, and the support you need to make more profitable decisions.

After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to a 22-year high in July, the cost to borrow money is one area that Florida growers can look to for savings. Here are some tips to consider:

  • Shop for a fixed interest rate to pay for input purchases, which helps create a bit more stability for your budget.
  • Look at seasonal offers and promotions that your preferred products might offer, which tend to come with more attractive rates and flexibility to leverage your operating line of credit.
  • Pay attention to details beyond the rate, including how interest accrues and how well the terms fit your unique cash flow needs.

And don’t forget that the most useful financial plan is the one that reflects your current state. With Florida’s ideal climate, many growers manage multiple crop cycles throughout the year. Every time a crop plan shifts, which may happen frequently for some growers, it’s time to reevaluate and adjust your financial plan to protect profits.

In today’s market, it costs more to produce a profitable crop, even when you have quality and output on your side. Florida farmers might feel like they’re backed into a corner with contracts that aren’t returning as much because of rising costs, but there are ways to improve your return, and it starts with financial planning.

Growing Forward, Gary Reeder

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August 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Gary Reeder
Manatee County President (District 8)

Gary Reeder is a fourth-generation tomato producer in Manatee County who has been immersed in agriculture his whole life. Reeder recalls fond memories on his family’s farm when he was a young boy. Since finding his own place in agriculture, Reeder has been a champion and advocate for agriculture across the state of Florida.

However, Reeder never envisioned himself taking over the family farm. Reeder was in his third semester of community college when his father recruited him to help run the farm.

“I remember my dad saying, ‘See you at 6 a.m. for breakfast,’ and the next day I began my career on the farm,” said Reeder. “I have found a deep appreciation for agriculture because of him.”

Although Reeder retired in January 2020, his legacy in the agriculture community lives on. In addition to being the Manatee County President, Reeder has won several awards and has served on the Manatee County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. He has worked with UF/IFAS to develop technology that promotes agriculture. In 2008, Reeder was inducted into the Manatee County Agricultural Hall of Fame.

“I am proud to be able to have a fundraiser which raises money for FFA and 4-H,” said Reeder. “This event generates a great deal of agricultural involvement and fellowship.”

In addition to the fundraiser, Reeder leads a small group of youth to Tallahassee to speak with Senators and Representatives about agricultural issues in their county.

Living in Manatee County, Reeder is surrounded by urban development, which threatens the livelihood of  farmers and ranchers. Reeder uses his voice to support and promote agriculture in the face of adversity.

“Growing forward is the perfect phrase for all that we are doing,” said Reeder. “I am committed to growing the future of agriculture forward by working with local governments to protect farms and through my involvement with Florida Farm Bureau as well as teaching future generations about the importance of agriculture.”

Land Grant Partner

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August 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

dr angleBy J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

Thanks in part to Farm Bureau support for our legislative agenda, UF/IFAS plans to expand its enrollment in equine programs by 10 percent.

This will prepare more students for work in farm management, pharmaceutical and feed sales, equine business marketing or to apply for veterinary school or other advanced degrees. It means more hands-on, experiential learning.

The funding means we can begin to lift limitations we’ve had on instruction in how to take care of the animals that help take care of your animals because the “classroom” had slipped into disrepair.

The state will fund nearly $2 million for a new building and assorted repairs to the UF/IFAS Horse Teaching Unit, aka the HTU.

The current facilities become unusable when rain floods the property. Classes get canceled, research gets disrupted. Holes, unsafe wiring and fire hazards threaten the safety of animals and humans alike.

During the winter, Florida has more horses than Kentucky. Yet there’s nowhere else in the entire Florida public university system I know of where a student can take Techniques in Farrier Science or live at a stable to take on 24/7 care of these valuable animals.

So the upgrade of the HTU is important not only to support the huge economic impact of equine competitions and tourism but of training your future professionals.

This is not a case of remedying neglect. We’ve stretched the resources we have as far as they’ll go.

I’d like to single out the outstanding job that Angela Chandler has done. She’s so good at managing the HTU that when the director of our Equine Sciences Center in Ocala retired, we gave Chandler a second job and used the savings to, among other things, pay for needed repairs.

Chandler (who is quick to credit Joel McQuagge and Saundra TenBroeck for building the program) also boosted hay production at the Ocala center, reducing feed costs at the equine and beef units. She’s saved money through equipment sharing, and she’s built a reputation for the HTU that has the potential to generate revenue through standing outside stallions.

Indeed, last year the university recognized her among its tens of thousands of employees statewide with one of its eight Superior Accomplishment Awards.

The Farm Bureau’s annual day in Tallahassee did a lot to educate policy makers about the need. Now that we have some of the resources to address it, I hope you’ll join me in thanking Representative Josie Tomkow and Senator Dennis Baxley for sponsoring the legislation to authorize the funding.

Joel McQuagge training a horse in a demonstration at the Horse Teaching Unit. Photo taken 05-15-19  

UF/IFAS is also launching a fundraising campaign to build an endowment to support the equine program, a critical component of its long-term success. If you’re interested in naming rights or other opportunities to support the program, please contact Julie Conn at [email protected].

With all the technology we’re bringing you to reduce manual labor and better inform your management decisions, we can’t outright replace the horse.

That four-legged tool is only as effective as its operator, though. The HTU is how we transmit the know-how for you to get the most out of your horses and ensure they get the same care your cattle receive on your ranch.

As the HTU improves, so does the student experience, and so does the quality of the graduates you hire.

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

 

Your Land Grant Partner

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July 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

dr angleBy J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

When Florida agriculture and UF/IFAS identified a sudden and emergency need to update nutrient rate recommendations, we turned to a longstanding relationship—Farm Bureau members and UF/IFAS scientists.

The Farm Bureau leader is Ben Wells, vice president of the Putnam/St. Johns County Farm Bureau. The team of UF/IFAS scientists includes Christian Christensen, Lincoln Zotarelli, Lakesh Sharma, Kelly Morgan, David Liu, Tom Obreza, and others.

We never intended for our recommendations—some of which are decades old—to become regulations. But that’s where we are. So we’re doing the research on how much fertilizer goes on crops that include potatoes, tomatoes, citrus, corn, green beans, and more.

Good science depends on real-world conditions for our experiments. It’s real at Ben Wells Produce north of Hastings. Ben produces chipping and table potatoes. Like all of agriculture, it’s a tough business.

So for him to take a portion of his acreage out of commercial production, allow scientists free passage onto his property and trust them with data from his fields is an invaluable contribution to science. It gets us much closer to your reality, the conditions you work under, than the experiments we conduct on a UF/IFAS research farm where scientists control so many factors and make all the decisions.

The support of Wells has advanced our work, especially on phosphorus rates on potatoes. Zotarelli, a professor in our Horticultural Sciences Department says industry partners like Wells provide the opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of our research under real-world conditions.

The team of scientists have all visited the Wells plot regularly, keeping him informed and coordinating operations so that commerce and science don’t collide. After all, the science is supposed to support your bottom line, not take away from it.

But that relationship, like all relationships, is built over time. The UF/IFAS through the Hastings Agricultural Extension Center has worked with Ben and his father for more than a decade. Wells, alongside other growers, has loaned his land, provided letters of support for research grants, and offered his wisdom and feedback on the work done on his plots.

He knows we come to discover, not to dictate. Indeed, in our most recent report to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, we state that the purpose of the research is to: “…achieve maximum yield and quality goals of the grower while doing so in a manner that minimizes nutrient inefficiencies to the environment.”

That trust is not only a foundation of good science, it’s a way to get it done as fast as possible. We didn’t have to spend months looking for a potato grower willing to host trials. All those Farm Bureau meetings, past partnerships, field days at Hastings, ag tours, and, of course, phone calls, made it obvious to Christian that he needed to call Ben.

It gave Ben the confidence to take that phone call, hear what the scientist had to say, and let him know it was OK to come on over and start planting—again.

UF/IFAS scientists are doing the research to protect your profit and the planet. So, in a way, is Ben. I thank him for his vital role in our science, and I hope you will, too.

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).

Growing Forward, NoraBeth Carpenter

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July 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter
NoraBeth Carpenter
Women’s Leadership Committee, District 2

Having grown up on her family’s farm and being a lifelong Farm Bureau member, NoraBeth Carpenter strives every day to educate her community and family about the importance of agriculture.

Carpenter was inspired by watching her grandfather, father and uncles build their family legacy on the farm. In 2009, NoraBeth married her husband, Buck, and left her hometown, Lee, Florida, while he served in the Air Force. After a few years, the Carpenters returned to Madison County where they established their roots and began to build their farm. In 2019, Carpenter left her job at the local library to focus full time on the farm and to homeschool their three children. Currently, they farm perennial peanut and a variety of grains.

While her family has always been a member of Farm Bureau, NoraBeth and her husband began their involvement in the Young Farmers & Ranchers program after getting married. Buck was appointed as the county chair and NoraBeth became involved in the Women’s Leadership Program. She currently serves on the State Women’s Leadership Committee as the District 2 representative.

Being involved in Farm Bureau allows NoraBeth the opportunity to continue spreading the word of agriculture, which she does through educating the next generation. Carpenter is proud of her involvement with Ag in the Classroom events and her county’s Ag Day celebration, which take place each year in May.

“By educating students and getting agriculture in front of them, my hope is for them to continue to appreciate the industry that sustains us,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter’s involvement in her community and her dedication to teaching her children about agriculture is a model example of growing forward.

”As a Florida farmer, growing forward is essential when raising a family, as they truly are the future of the farm,” said Carpenter. “My husband and I are working diligently to blaze a trail for them to follow and to set the example through faith. Our goal growing forward is to create a legacy for our children to follow in faith so that when the sun sets on our time they can continue growing forward in a new day.”

NoraBeth strives to live by words of scripture every day, specifically Proverbs 31:17-18 & 31:23-28.

“She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard, she girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.”… “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”

Join our Fight Against Food Insecurity

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June 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Calling Florida Farmers and Ranchers: Join our Fight Against Food Insecurity and Help us feed Florida with Florida-Grown products!

Florida Farm Bureau has united with Feeding Florida to ensure that fresh, Florida grown products reach food-insecure families in local communities statewide.

Florida Farm Bureau has donated $100,000 to Feeding Florida for the purchase of fresh food products directly from Florida farms. If you are interested in participating in this project, simply provide your farm’s contact information and available commodities by clicking here. Your products will be distributed through Feeding Florida’s nine food banks across the state, making a real impact to families facing food insecurity.

Don’t miss this opportunity to provide your farm-fresh product to Florida communities! Provide your information here by June 9, 2023.

SCOTUS Strikes EPA’s Expansive WOTUS Definition

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June 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

The United States Supreme Court struck down EPA’s expansive Waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition in a 9 – 0 ruling on Thursday, May 25. The reasoning was split, with five justices (Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch, and Barrett) largely adopting the Rapanos plurality decision on what American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) advocated for in their amicus brief. The other four justices (Kavanaugh, Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson) thought this went too far in regard to wetlands. Here are some highlights:

· Significant-Nexus Is Dead: SCOTUS basically says that the EPA employs sig-nex to create authority where it otherwise lacks. The judges were unanimous on eliminating significant nexus.

· WOTUS Definition: The CWA’s use of “waters” encompasses only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming geographical features that are described in ordinary parlance as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes.

· Wetlands: As for wetlands, the CWA extends to only those wetlands that are as a practical matter indistinguishable from waters of the United States. This requires the party asserting jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands to establish first, that the adjacent body of water constitutes waters of the United states, (i.e., a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters); and second, that the wetland has a continuous surface connection with that water, making it difficult to determine where the water ends and the wetland begins. Four justices (Kavanaugh, Kagan, Sotomayor, & Jackson) thought this went too far.

· SCOTUS Critical of Past EPA Actions: The majority absolutely eviscerates EPA’s history of ignoring the Clean Water Act, ignoring Supreme Court decisions, and ignoring common sense. The Court describes EPA’s approach as a “freewheeling inquiry” with “weak textual argument[s].”

· Implications on 2023 WOTUS Rule: As EPA was belligerent to bring their new rule into the record even at our request to delay publication of the rule, SCOTUS took that opportunity to thoroughly tear it apart in Section IV. Remember that the Sackett case addresses the pre-2015 WOTUS definition, not the 2023 Rule. As a result, the 2023 Rule remains on the books, but functionally EPA and the Corps cannot enforce it. AFBF’s litigation in Texas and
North Dakota challenging the rule will thus be the likely vehicle to get the rule officially tossed.

Due to the implications on the 2023 WOTUS rule, the EPA and the Army Corps must go back to the drawing board. As this plays out, we will closely scrutinize their efforts to revise the definition of waters of the United States for compliance with the Court’s findings in this case. Those that wish to read the Court’s opinion with highlights of pertinent information can find it here.

 

Florida Pork Improvement Group Annual Meeting and Delegate Elections

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June 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Public Notice by the Florida Pork Improvement Group and the National Pork Board

The election of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2024 National Pork Producers (Pork Act) Delegate Body will take place at 10:00am on Thursday, July 27, 2023, in conjunction with a Board of Directors meeting of the Florida Pork Improvement Group at the Florida FFA Association office, 5600 SW 34th St., Gainesville, FL 32608. All Florida pork producers are invited to attend.

Any producer, age 18 or older, who is a resident of Florida and has paid all assessments due may be considered as a delegate candidate and/or participate in the election. All eligible producers are encouraged to bring with them a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their name and the checkoff deducted. For more information, contact the Florida Pork Improvement Group, PO Box 147030 Gainesville, FL 32614 or by phone, (352) 384-2633.

Land Grant Partner

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June 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

dr angleBy J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

You get first shot at the latest blueberry varieties developed in Gainesville, strawberries from Balm, peanuts from Marianna, forages tested in Ona, tropical foliage from Apopka, sweet corn from Belle Glade and squash from Homestead.

The common thread running through this tapestry of discovery is the Florida Foundation Seed Producers (FFSP). John Beuttenmuller and his team make sure that our innovation machine runs for you.

FFSP works closely with the UF/IFAS plant breeding team on cultivars that thrive under Florida conditions. When those varieties are ready for release, Florida farmers get the opportunity to use them, generally years ahead of international competitors.

Meanwhile, when that head start plays out and you’re moving on to new varieties, FFSP eventually licenses cultivars abroad to protect its intellectual property, and they reinvest that money into Florida-focused innovation. 

It’s hard to imagine that we’d have a new blueberry lab in Gainesville without this revenue stream. You’re getting an innovation factory for the next discovery funded in significant part from royalties from the last breakthrough. 

FFSP licensing royalties have also been used to build greenhouses for our strawberry breeding team. And one of the high-profile gifts of our last capital campaign was the establishment of the FFSP Plant Breeding Endowment. It sets up a friendly competition to find the most potentially impactful new breeding projects at UF and brings in representatives from industry to pick which ones to fund.

FFSP does more than promote new versions of old standbys. It is central to the search for the next new Florida crop. Namely, it’s been a prime sponsor of 33 projects aimed at figuring out if enterprises ranging from barley to vanilla, olives to vegetable high tunnels, are the best bet for a new commercially viable commodity. 

And now that we’ve got 15 new faculty with expertise in artificial intelligence, we need to jumpstart their work. FFSP helped light the fuse by providing much of the funding to bring together 11 teams around projects ranging from accelerated precision plant breeding to automated strawberry yield protection. We expect AI technologies, licenses and startup companies to result.

Beuttenmuller is a friend of the Farm Bureau. He sits on your Peanut and Cotton Advisory Committee. He’s long made sure Farm Bureau is represented on his FFSP board. Nate Jameson, whose wife Anna is on the Sumter County Farm Bureau board, is FFSP’s board vice president. Kevin Morgan served on the board until his retirement as assistant to the former Farm Bureau president. Another former FFBF administrator, Jaime Jerrells, served on the FFSP board and continues to do so in her new role for the commissioner of agriculture.

Beuttenmuller is a great example of someone who helps ensure that UF/IFAS innovation is relevant to Florida farmers by actually getting it into your hands through commercialization. 

New crop varieties are intellectual property. By protecting that property, Beuttenmuller and FFSP are protecting Florida agriculture. 

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).

Growing Forward: Erin Jones, Gilchrist County

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June 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

Erin Jones
Gilchrist County Farm Bureau President

Erin Jones is a fifth generation Gilchrist County resident. Growing up, her family had cattle, hay and peanuts on their family farm in Bell. Her family has approximately 60 commercial beef cows and a Simmental Angus bull. Jones was actively involved in 4-H and FFA during her youth.

Jones attended Florida Gateway College for her associate’s degree and transferred to the University of Florida where she received a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences. She is currently working on her master’s in agronomy from UF and works for UF/IFAS Extension as the Suwannee County Livestock Agent.

Although her parents have been Farm Bureau members for decades, Jones began her own journey with the organization when she started school at UF. She was a founding member of the Levy/Gilchrist County Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R). Jones has served as the chair of the Gilchrist County YF&R committee since 2017 and attained a position on the Gilchrist County Farm Bureau board in 2018. She currently serves as president of board.

Jones is a proud advocate for agriculture in her county and loves educating others about the benefits of being a Farm Bureau member. She enjoys participating in numerous outreach opportunities throughout the year, but particularly enjoys the Christmas parade in Bell every December and the Quilt Festival held in Trenton in March.

“We table at the Quilt Festival because there’s such a variety of people that come to the event,” said Jones.  “I feel like we get the most exposure for agriculture at that event.”

The Gilchrist County Farm Bureau board is heavily focused on youth education and development. Jones believes in the future of the young people in her community and is continuously looking for ways to engage them in agriculture.

“Growing forward for us is being able to invest in the younger generation. They are the future of our organization,” said Jones. “If we can continue to educate young people we can continue to grow agriculture in our county.”