Recently Southeast AgNet was able to sit down with Dr. Dean Pringle to have a conversation about the University of Florida’s Apex facility in the works.
“So, the Apex Center will be kind of an addition to our meat science facilities at the University of Florida Animal Sciences. And if you think about the beef industry and the beef chain in the state of Florida, our cattle side of that is predominantly cow-calf,” said Dr. Pringle.
Pringle added, “And then those weaned calves are going to leave Florida typically for stockering and finishing and slaughter and fabrication. And then box products are going to come back to our consumers here in the state. And when you look at the numbers of consumers that we have, you know, we’ve got, I think the numbers I saw today, 120 million visitors a year and 23 plus million residents.”
“So, we’ve got a lot of mouths to feed. And particularly on the visitors’ side, you know, they’re looking for a really high-quality eating experience. And so what the Apex Center is going to allow us to do is really focus on the consumer and the product side of the equation and try to, through both research and outreach and as well as teaching, ensure that we’re producing the right product for our consumers to ensure that they have really high quality eating experience,” Dr. Pringle said.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.