Florida Agriculture’s Winter Specialty Crops – BRRRrrr!

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Vegetables, Weather

FLORIDA GROWERS ASSESS IMPACT OF COLDEST WEATHER OF THE SEASON – Damage, crop losses likely in some parts of the state…It always takes a few days for growers to determine the full extent of damage to tender winter fruit and vegetable crops, but according to this release from FFVA this morning it looks like there will be at least some …

UF Sr VP Jimmy Cheek Leaving Soon for University of Tennessee

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Sugar

In this photo, released by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, UF President Bernie Machen and Jimmy G. Cheek, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, share a light moment during Cheek’s farewell gathering at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center — Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. About 350 people attended the event to honor Cheek, who …

FL Special Session Budget Cuts Hit UF/IFAS, FDACS

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Vegetables

Florida Farm Bureau’s Ben Parks in Tallahassee offers more details and insight into the Special Session budget cuts and key agriculture concerns going forward, since much more budget cutting is expected in the general session yet to come. In the first report below, Farm Bureau’s Parks discusses the general situation and some of the impacts to FDACS, in the second …

FL Ag Urged To Attend FL Senate Committee Workshops

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Vegetables

In this report, comments from Florida Senator Don Gaetz about a series of three workshops scheduled in the immediate future by the Florida Senate Committee on the Economy, which he chairs. Gaetz says agriculture is a key to Florida’s economy, and agricluture legislative representatives are urging farmers and ranchers to turn out at these meetings, even on short notice, to …

FL Rep. Poppell: Agriculture Research Critical For Many Reasons

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Vegetables

As state lawmakers wrestle to whittle some four percent from the state budget in this special session, with expectations to do much more carving on the budget in a few weeks, maintaining the integrity of important programs and services is the hope of many. In this report, comments from Rep. Ralph Poppell, a citrus grower from Legislative District 29 in …

Grass Roots Involvement In Legislative Process Encouraged

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, General, Sugar

In this report, comments from Florida Senator Carey Baker, Chairman of the Senate Committee on General Government Appropriations, who says at times like these it is important that producers themselves stay abreast of the issues and get involved in the process. There are many opportunities for farmers and ranchers to join others in Tallahassee during the Session. Also a mention …

FL Legislature Works to Cut State Budget in All Areas

Gary Cooper Citrus, Florida, Sugar

We spent some time in Tallahassee this week to catch up on the budget cutting process underway in this special session, and what may be expected in terms of further cuts later, in the general session scheduled to get underway in early March. In this series of reports, we speak with three different lawmakers about agriculture and related issues as …