Tag Archives: UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Your Land Grant Partner

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February 2025 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

dr angleBy 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.

Dean Migliaccio (far right) takes a moment to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering W.W. Glenn Teaching Building, a modern makerspace and hands-on mechanical workshop paired with an engineering design space, bringing together students majoring in biological engineering and agricultural operations management. We refer to the groundbreaking in the column.

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).

 

 

 

 

Your Land Grant Partner

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December 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

dr angleBy 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 four-state board executive officers individually in between sessions in Miramar Beach. They were four very different discussions that demonstrated to me the multiple perspectives your leadership team brings to serving as champions for Florida agriculture.

President Jeb Smith and I talked about agriculture as a potential career that can provide meaning and purpose to young people searching for both. I was briefing President Smith on UF/IFAS efforts to develop training in agricultural technology. Beyond that individual initiative, we agree that agriculture is a way for people to feel they’re doing good while they’re doing well.

To Michael Dooner, agriculture is a way to protect the earth. As a forestry leader, your immediate past treasurer champions the benefits of agriculture to filter and produce abundant clean water and air, sequester carbon, and harbor wildlife. He wants to see producers recognized and compensated for what they contribute to society, not just what they produce.

Clay Archey, who was re-elected as your board secretary at the annual meeting, took time to meet with me and talk about how agriculture gives veterans a new opportunity for service after leaving the military. His family’s support for scholarships for veterans studying in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences demonstrates a way to recognize the value of the experience of our military personnel and channel it into another form of national security – food self-sufficiency.

Vice President Steve Johnson talked about agriculture’s values in connecting multiple generations of family. For three dollars per acre, his great granddaddy bought land in 1937 that the Johnson family is still farming in Manatee County. Steve hopes his son will someday take over the family business – but that his son will first attend the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and then get a few years of experience away from the Johnson farm.

Together these conversations reminded me of what a jewel agriculture is. Each conversation was like turning that jewel ever so slightly and appreciating the glint of each facet.

Agriculture is a business. My job is to help producers make money. But that’s not the whole story.

As you know, agriculture delivers far more benefits that food, feed, fuel and fiber. It’s an important way to knit families together, reinforce national security, fuel the economy, foster a lifestyle and keep parts of Florida green even as we see the land use map changing before our eyes.

Agriculture needs to speak with a unified voice. I heard that voice at the annual meeting from Jeb, Steve, Michael and Clay. Yet each does so in individual ways to create a fuller picture of the industry we love. And I look forward to amplifying that voice year-round.

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).

 

Your Land Grant Partner

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October 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter
dr angle
By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

Agricultural land disappearing. A new expressway cutting through pastures. A generation of youth who need to learn where their food comes from.

Sound familiar? It’s what UF/IFAS Clay County Extension Director Annie Wallau and Clay County Farm Bureau President Gayward Hendry are facing as they work together to promote local agriculture.

On the strength of Hendry’s nomination highlighting Wallau’s efforts to teach Clay County’s next generation about the role farms and farmers play in their community and economy, she will be honored at this month’s annual meeting as the Florida Farm Bureau Extension Professional of the Year.

Wallau has been a leader in educating youth about agriculture, food, health, and nutrition.

When the pandemic shut down the county fair, it stopped the popular AgVentures® station-to-station hands-on projects to teach students where their food comes from.

Wallau worked with Clay County Farm Bureau and Clay County Fair Association on the idea of bringing the lessons to the students. The field trip in a box was born.

UF/IFAS and Clay County Farm Bureau packed and delivered the boxes with lesson plans and hands-on activity supplies on forestry, beekeeping, gardening, and beef, including the game Beef-o Bingo that gives students a fun way to learn about the many by-products of the beef industry that we find in our everyday lives.

And Annie worked to create Story Walk, which engaged students in ag literacy and physical activity by posting pages from a book on Florida agriculture throughout schools grounds, giving teachers the opportunity to take their students outdoors to walk and read.

(Left to Right) Greg Harden, Florida Farm Bureau District 5 Field Representative; Annie Wallau, County Extension Director – UF/IFAS Extension Clay County; Gayward Hendry, Clay County Farm Bureau President

Wallau has partnered with Farm Bureau to organize the Farm-City week luncheon that brings together Clay County’s civic and agricultural communities. She even hosted it at the Extension office until the event was so successful that it outgrew the space.

In addition to making Clay County a place to grow food, she is working to grow leaders. When Wallau met 4-Her Cross Middleton five years ago, she saw in him a future agriculturalist. She talked to him about careers in Extension, and she met with him frequently at her office to counsel him on selecting a college major at UF compatible with his learning style, background and career goals.

Cross graduated from the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in May, and Wallau has continued to advise him on how to engage with Farm Bureau. Cross now leads the county’s Young Farmers & Ranchers chapter and serves on the county board. Cross and Wallau are now working together to try to bring a new farmers market to Clay County.

My thanks go to President Hendry and Administrative Assistant Terri Davis of the Clay County Farm Bureau for nominating Annie. Thank you, too, to President Jeb Smith for personally informing Annie with a call that she said absolutely blindsided her in the best way.

Extension professional of the year is one of the highest honors an agent can earn because of who it comes from. Our decades-old partnership has great value to us, and when Farm Bureau elevates an agent, it is meaningful to our entire organization.

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).

 

 

 

Revised Ag Water Rule Finalized by the FDA

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September 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a final rule that revises pre-harvest agricultural water provisions in the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. The rule replaces the previous microbial quality criteria and testing requirements with systems-based, pre-harvest agricultural water assessments.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is committed to providing support for farms that may be affected by this rule change.

It is highly encouraged that all fruit and vegetable producers take advantage of the produce safety training opportunities provided in partnership with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF-IFAS) and FDACS. FDACS Food Safety Training Calendar can be found here.

Under the revised rule, covered farms using pre-harvest agricultural water for covered produce must conduct annual agricultural water assessments and assess factors such as water source, distribution system, protection from contamination sources, application methods, time interval between water application and harvest, crop characteristics, environmental conditions, and other relevant factors.

Based on the assessments, farms must determine if corrective or mitigation measures are necessary to minimize contamination risks. Prompt action is required for hazards related to animal activity, biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAOs), or untreated/improperly treated human waste. Mitigation measures should be implemented as soon as practicable for other hazards, or testing may be conducted.

The final rule also requires supervisory review of the written assessment and determinations made. Covered farms may be exempt from assessments if they meet specific requirements for their pre-harvest agricultural water.

Compliance dates for the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions are as follows: Large farms: 9 months after the effective date (April 7, 2025), Small farms: 1 year, 9 months after the effective date (April 6, 2026), Very small farms: 2 years, 9 months after the effective date (April 5, 2027).

FDACS is available to help assess Produce Safety Rule compliance, including the new ag water requirements, on your farm with a free On-Farm Readiness Review. To request an on-site readiness review, click here.

If you have any questions, call 863-578-1900, email Kirby Quam, or visit www.FDACS.gov/FSMA.

Additional Resources:
FSMA Final Rule on Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water | FDA

Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption

 

Your Land Grant Partner

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May 2023 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

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

In a state where Farm Bureau members are so good at producing just about any kind of food, it’s bewildering that we import upwards of 80 percent of our seafood.

I believe we’re at a moment where we have the potential to change that. The latest USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans basically call on us to double our seafood consumption. How are we going to meet the demand if Americans actually act on this advice? The shutdown of wild harvesting of oysters in Apalachicola Bay makes this an even heavier lift.

Leslie Sturmer of UF/IFAS Extension and the UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station, who has a history of helping turn fishers into farmers, believes we can still be a great oyster-producing state, and we can do it through oyster farming.

Three years ago the UF/IFAS research office set up a starter fund to incentivize investigation into what it calls emerging enterprises, and Sturmer’s oyster work was one of the first projects it funded.

Sturmer built on that early funding and is currently seeking ways to reduce oyster mortality by working with oyster farmers in the Pensacola Bay, Indian River Lagoon, Alligator Harbor, Oyster Bay, and Mosquito Lagoon as well as Apalachicola Bay.

More recently, we launched another starter fund aimed at developing applications of artificial intelligence to help farmers, and again seafood made the list. Aquaculture scientist Huiping Yang has teamed up with two of our recent faculty hires with expertise in AI in hopes of accelerating the breeding of new improved hard clam varieties.

That kind of partnering of scientists is essential to finding solutions to complex challenges.

So is partnering with stakeholders. That’s why Sturmer serves as technical adviser to the Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s Aquaculture Advisory Committee.

Matt DiMaggio, the new director of the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Lab in Ruskin, does as well. DiMaggio has big plans to expand the Lab’s traditional portfolio focused on ornamental fish to include food fish. I like his plan and intend to support the additional scientists needed as I can find the resources to do so.

Aquaculture doesn’t always have to mean shooting for the center of the plate. We have scientists investigating how to grow coral as a way to restore ecosystems. We’ve looked at baitfish. We even have a biogeochemist working on the prospects for harvesting seaweed.

She sees potential for seaweed as an ingredient in cattle feed that would reduce the animals’ methane emissions.

But we have to do more than see whether it can be done. We need to know if can be done profitably. That’s why we economists Bachir Kassas, John Lai, and Andrew Ropicki of the Food and Resource Economics Department exploring whether consumers would pay more for milk and beef with a smaller carbon footprint, the kind you might get from seaweed-fed cows.

Among our existing fin fish aquaculture research is the work of Cortney Ohs at our Indian River Research and Education Center on how to raise hogfish in tanks as potential food fish. We also recently promoted Leonardo Ibarra-Castro at the UF Whitney Lab in St. Augustine to work on red snapper, snook and red drum.

Ropicki again is also our connection to an exciting company growing delicious, and environmentally friendly Atlantic salmon right here in Florida. As we continue to build on our expertise in fin fish as food, we’ve turned to Atlantic Sapphire.

Atlantic Sapphire showcasing its Florida farm-raised salmon at the UF/IFAS Flavors of Florida event in March 2023.

I can attest to the quality of the product. One of the notable foods at our recent Flavors of Florida showcase of locally produced products was Atlantic Sapphire’s Bluehouse Salmon grown in Homestead.

Company leaders have also come to campus to give a seminar on their experience on the frontier of fin fish farming in Florida. Florida Sea Grant and Ropicki are currently helping to arrange internships at the company. To grow fish in Florida, we’ll have to grow the talent to do it.

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).

 

Meaningful Steps

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March 2021 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

By J. Scott Angle
[email protected]
@IFAS_VP

I’m nearly halfway through fulfilling a pledge to visit all 67 UF/IFAS county Extension offices. One way I gauge the effectiveness of an office’s outreach—which is, after all, its mission—is whether I get to meet the county Farm Bureau president.

David Hafner (L) and Dr. Angle

Martin County Farm Bureau President David Hafner offered an important endorsement of our service to stakeholders just by showing up when my road tripping took me to Stuart last month. Then he impressed me more when we got to talk.

He’s concerned about his own operation. Cattle wasn’t working for him, so he’s shifted exclusively to small livestock—poultry, pigs and goats. He talked a lot less about his own operation, though, than yours.

By his own reckoning, Hafner is more advocate than farmer.

Hafner came to meet me at the UF/IFAS Extension Martin County office, and he also made time to hear me via Zoom at the October meeting with the Council of Presidents, because he cares about Florida agriculture and because he cares about UF/IFAS support for it.

That support goes two ways. Like many county presidents, in most years he goes to Tallahassee many years to advocate on behalf of agriculture, and he told me that his elevator pitch when he gets a legislator’s ear is about support for the UF/IFAS budget. Again, he’s choosing service over self-interest.

It won’t put any more money in his pocket, but it could put more in yours. A strong UF/IFAS-Farm Bureau partnership is essential to the greater good of Florida agriculture. That’s not just me and President Hoblick. That’s 67 county Farm Bureau presidents and 67 county Extension directors. Just to see Hafner with UF/IFAS Extension Martin County Director Jennifer Pelham told me they understand this. Hafner’s only been president since October, so they’re still building a relationship. Small first steps are meaningful, like Hafner inviting Pelham to deliver a state of UF/IFAS message at his board meetings.

Hafner in turn serves on Pelham’s Sustainability and Commercial Horticulture Advisory Committee to give stakeholder input into Extension programming. And as if he didn’t do enough volunteering for the good of today’s Florida agriculture, he’s also hard at work on its future serving on the local 4-H Advisory Committee.

4-H is where we connected most deeply, for it is a subject dear to both of us. Hafner grew up in 4-H, so he knows firsthand its impact. It certainly succeeded in creating a Martin County leader.

What Hafner’s loyalty also demonstrates is that you reward us not just with political support, but with the relationships and trust that are essential to the dissemination of science that makes farming more profitable, efficient and sustainable.

I’m pleased to see that Pelham and her team are earning that trust. I want to earn it, too. Reach out to me, even if you’re far from Gainesville. I want to meet you, whether it’s at your farm, at the Florida Farm Bureau annual meeting in October, or at your local Extension office.

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

 

 

 

Ag Talk with Jack Payne

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[email protected]

@JackPayneIFAS

By Jack Payne

Jack Payne

Late last year I called Kenneth Parker to ask a favor. I thought a lot about it before I dialed, because I knew his answer would be yes. It always is.

I needed a new Florida delegate to a national grassroots council that converges on Washington, D.C. to go to bat for land-grant universities. At first Kenneth said he did not know what I was talking about, but that the other two Florida delegates sounded like good company, so count him in.

That is typical Kenneth Parker for you. As Farm Bureau members, you may know him best as former president of the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau and a regular at the annual convention. But Kenneth transcends a single association or commodity. He basically does whatever he can for Florida agriculture.

Florida Ag Expo 2019 held at the at Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC)

He brings to that service an appreciation for the science that underpins your

success. For years, Kenneth has worked to strengthen the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and help us understand industry needs.

Just a month or two before he accepted my request to serve as a Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) delegate, he had agreed to lead one of our stakeholder advisory groups, the Florida Agricultural Council, as its new president. In 2018, he said yes when we asked him to join SHARE Council, which helps garner philanthropic support for UF/IFAS.

Kenneth established early in his tenure as the executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association his continuing support of the association’s commitment to covering the first few years’ salary for a UF/IFAS strawberry breeder with an expertise in genomics.

That allowed us to essentially have Dr. Seonghee Lee audition for the job. He is since become indispensable to Vance Whitaker’s strawberry breeding team.

Kenneth stood up for me at times when I had to make tough decisions. I have publicly acknowledged him in the past, like in 2014 when UF/IFAS honored FSGA as its industry partner of the year.

As I approach retirement, and I reflect on the contributions of our many supporters, Kenneth stands out. Because he did so much, and because he did it with such kindness and gentleness, Kenneth made me want to do my job better.

I will bet Judi Whitson in your Hillsborough County Farm Bureau office would say the same thing. So would the instructors in Plant City. So would the plant breeders in Wimauma. Soon enough, I expect, so will his peers at SHARE, CARET and the Florida Ag Council.

That means they will all do a better job for you.

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.

Ag Talk

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April 2020 FloridAgriculture e-Newsletter

Jack Payne
Jack Payne

By Jack Payne
[email protected]
@JackPayneIFAS

The Coronavirus doesn’t stop the need to feed. In fact, the run on supermarkets as I wrote this in mid-March demonstrates how demand for food spikes during a crisis.

This is a moment (maybe a months-long “moment”) for agriculture and agricultural science to shine. We have a wealth of experience as few other sectors do in navigating a crisis — natural disasters, climate variability, market fluctuations, freezes, diseases, pests and other threats.

Just as the food supply you deliver is not interrupted by the Coronavirus, neither is the science you rely upon to inform your decisions.

The women and men of UF/IFAS showed extraordinary effort in taking early action to keep the Coronavirus from sidelining science. Their beat-the-clock hustle ensured the continuity of agricultural science before restrictions on travel, public gatherings or even showing up at the office could threaten to shut down their work to sustain Florida agriculture.

KC Jeong & Samantha Wisely

One of the most extraordinary responses was the darn-near-instant transformation of teaching. Our instructors, administration and instructional technology professionals took classes attended by 6,000 students in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and put them all completely online in days. This keeps students on track to graduate on time and prevents gaps in the education they’ll need to be productive 21st century citizens.

These are 6,000 potential future employees. At the very least, they’re 6,000 present and future customers who will be ag ambassadors who can tell friends, family, co-workers, fellow worshippers and strangers where their food comes from.

Lauren Diepenbrock feared that as the movement of people seemingly became more restricted by the hour that her research team would be locked out of an experimental grove by the emergency. So she summoned them to report to the Citrus Research and Education Center by 7 a.m. and got 600 Valencia trees planted in a single day.

She said, “This is work we’ve promised the federal government we’d do to help our growers.” Citrus growers were in crisis long before the Coronavirus, so her research on HLB is too important to face delays caused by Coronavirus. Even a public health emergency didn’t shake her commitment to her pledge to the federal government – or to you.

Vanessa Campoverde showed the same hustle in Extension. When infections began to impact air travel, she jumped in the car and drove six hours from Miami to Live Oak for an important training she needed to help Miami-area producers. She also rushed to squeeze in Spanish-language training for workers who needed to keep their pesticide licenses from expiring during a potential shutdown.

Like so many other things right now, the way we’re delivering agricultural science may look and feel different. Some things don’t change at all, like our commitment to you. We’re still working for you so you can work to feed an anxious world.

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.

Ag Talk

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Jack Payne
Jack Payne

[email protected]
@JackPayneIFAS
By Jack Payne

One of the greatest compliments the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences gets is some variety of, “If it weren’t for IFAS, I wouldn’t be in business.” It’s the ultimate endorsement of impact.

It’s not just the testimonial. It’s who it comes from. The experts. You.

Every year we strive to provide more of the know-how that keeps you in business. To do that, we have to make the business case for more funding from the Legislature. We call it “workload” – how much of a funding increase we request to keep up with your needs.

If you’re one of those folks who say you wouldn’t be in business without IFAS, please say it to a legislator. Call, write or even visit Tallahassee if you can. You have a powerful voice. You’re the proof that state dollars are spent effectively.

At a recent meeting of the Florida Agricultural Council, UF/IFAS Research Dean Rob Gilbert updated the group with a sampling of our latest scientific breakthroughs. They include:

  • Dr. Mike Mulvaney at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center documenting how cover crops increase soil moisture storage. His results have been used to implement a $75-per-acre cost share program in the Blue Springs area, while increasing farm income by $60 per acre for cotton growers in the western Panhandle.
  • Dr. Johnny Ferrarezi planting 5,440 grapefruit trees across 30 acres at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center to evaluate rootstocks and scions to rebuild the region’s grapefruit industry.
  • Research by Drs. Joao Vendramini, Jose Dubeux, and Esteban Rios on a bermudagrass variety with greater early spring forage production than most bermudagrass cultivars with similar nutritive value and persistence. It has promise as way for ranchers to cut their feed bills.You may have your own story of how UF/IFAS science improved your bottom line. Please tell people in Tallahassee about it.We can do more of the kinds of things Dean Gilbert highlighted if we have the resources to do so. Workload not only helps us pay researchers’ salaries, but it contributes to the Extension workforce that delivers UF/IFAS science to your community.

Those Extension needs are extensive. For example, there are about 25 county agent positions on hold because we lack funds, even where counties have approved paying part of those salaries. A workload increase would also allow us to consider adding regional specialized agents in precision agriculture, farm enterprise management and natural resources management.

It depends on state funding. Like cops on the beat or schoolteachers in the classroom, agricultural scientists in the lab, greenhouse, demonstration farm, or experimental grove are public servants.

Because your work is largely hidden from the public – and from legislators – so is ours. Please help us tell the story of how we feed Florida, the nation and the world.

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.

Ag Talk

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Jack Payne

By Jack Payne
@JackPayneIFAS
[email protected]

You are always welcome on the University of Florida campus, but I hope you’ll consider coming to visit us this month. You’ll get a look at your future.

We’re bringing some of the best minds in the world here to help us determine how to keep you – and your children and grandchildren – in the food business. We won’t settle this in two days of events. All the more reason to talk about tomorrow today.

The Future of Food Forum on Jan. 15 aims to give us direction on what researchers and farmers should be doing now to bring innovation to Florida fields. International experts will share the podium with Florida producers.

For example, we’ll have a Gates Foundation executive and the Nigeria-based leader of a global tropical agriculture institute sharing the stage with the Farm Bureau’s own Women’s Leadership Committee chair, Sarah Carte. Another panel puts a Hillsborough County strawberry grower together with captains of agribusiness from companies such as Syngenta.

The next day, Jan. 16, the techies are up. We’ll host “Pathways Towards the Next Generation of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Florida.” We’ll explore how we can harness huge amounts of data to improve your crops, as well as what policies we’ll need to make that happen. We’ll assemble the state’s leading water policy experts to hear what needs to happen to keep the taps running on farms even as cities get bigger and thirstier.

I know you’ve got plenty to deal with in the here and now. But if you don’t start considering drones, artificial intelligence, robots and the like, you’ll be competing someday against growers who already are thinking about these things.

One could dismiss this as all talk if we at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences didn’t have the capacity to act on some of the vision that emerges. When we convene experts, we get A-listers. With UF/IFAS, Florida farmers have one of the best R&D shops anywhere on the planet.

You’re going to need it. Your grandparents or great-grandparents fed about 18 people when they ran the farm. Today, you feed 164. You can expect to be feeding even more as we add 2.5 billion more mouths to the planet by mid-century.

I don’t know how much harder you can work to keep up. You’re going to have to work smarter. We can help. Come to these campus events to get a glimpse of what lies ahead.

If you can’t make it, reconnect with the closest UF/IFAS research and education center or Extension office. But start planning for that future now.

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.