The 10th annual Lay of the Land Conference, hosted and organized by Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Real Estate, featured a special Florida gubernatorial and ag commissioner candidate summit. The summit took place Thursday at Champion’s Gate Resort near Orlando.
The three Republican candidates for Florida agriculture commissioner and current Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam (who’s running for governor) shared their vision with those in attendance. Other candidates for these offices were invited but did not attend.
AgNet Media Founder and President Gary Cooper visited briefly and separately with each of the three candidates for agriculture commissioner. He asked each candidate the same five questions. Their responses will be featured in upcoming Southeast AgNet radio network reports and in separate website news posts on this and other AgNet Media websites, so stay tuned.
Wrapping up the series of candidate presentations, Putnam addressed the group with a rousing talk about Florida’s future potential, agricultural and otherwise, even 
in the face of further urban growth that the state is sure to experience in the future. Putnam was speaking to a group who knows him well. Proclaiming “I want Florida to be the best it can be,” he was rewarded with a standing ovation as he wrapped up his comments before joining media representatives for questioning.
In this news post, we share with our agricultural audience what it’s like for the candidates in what is known in press circles as a “media gaggle.” It’s sort of an impromptu free-for-all of media people rapid-firing questions at a news maker in any given situation. Click to play the audio file below to hear Putnam answer numerous questions, mostly about agricultural concerns that were top-of-mind to those in attendance at the land conference. Some of the media questions are hard to understand, but Putnam’s answers are clearly audible, as he addresses youth involvement in farming, future urban development pressures, his positioning in the race for governor and other topics of interest to landowners and farmers in the Sunshine State.