A Thanksgiving message from Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture:
Next year, Florida will celebrate 500 years since it was discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon. He named this land “La Florida” because it was the season known in Spain as “Pascua Florida,” the Festival of Flowers, and because much of the land’s vegetation was in bloom. Later, in 1539, another European settler, Luis Hernandez de Biedma, called Florida the land of plentiful food.
In the decades that followed the discovery of Florida, the Spanish enjoyed the foods the new land had to offer such as corn, beans and seafood, and introduced continental crops, including what’s now known as Florida’s signature crop, the orange. They also introduced cattle, horses and swine to the new world.
Though the agricultural production of those early settlers was just enough to feed themselves, it marked the beginning of a booming industry that would grow to encompass wooden shipbuilding, turpentine, open range cattle and the winter salad bowl of the nation, exceeding $100 billion in economic impact today.
Florida’s history is often measured by nature’s events rather than man’s. Hurricanes, freezes, floods and fires are ever present companions in our state, but food, fiber and nursery production have endured.
Today, Florida produces nearly 300 commodities. While some of these are native and others were introduced by early settlers, all of these products have been a vital part of our 500-year history. Fresh From Florida products will be enjoyed in homes across the nation this holiday season, as well as in 120 other countries throughout the world.
When you join your friends and family at the table this Thanksgiving day, give thanks for the farmers and ranchers who had a hand in preparing the meal and for our beautiful state, this land of plentiful food, that we are so blessed to call home.
Sincerely,
Adam H. Putnam
Commissioner of Agriculture