Here are the weekly livestock market reports for Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, for the week ended December 04, 2020, compiled by the Livestock Market News Service for all three states. AL Livestock Market Report: At Alabama Livestock Auctions, for the week ended December 04, 2020, receipts at 21 markets totaled an estimated 16,016 head compared to 199 last week and …
Commissioner Nikki Fried on U.S. House Passage of MORE Act
(FDACS) — The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.3884, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, by a vote of 228-164. This comprehensive, bipartisan cannabis reform package would decriminalize marijuana and take much-needed steps to address the racial injustices of prohibition. As of November 2020, a record-high 68 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a noted cannabis advocate, offered the …
What’s in Store for 2021? UF/IFAS Experts Predict Food and Garden Trends
(UF/IFAS) — No one could have predicted the kind of year 2020 has been. But in late 2019, when UF/IFAS experts were asked to predict the top food and garden trends for the coming year, they made some startlingly accurate predictions. Today, these trends are no longer forecasts but facts of life in a year characterized by a global pandemic …
New UF/IFAS App to Identify Toxic Plants
(UF/IFAS) — Some livestock, pets and even children occasionally nibble on poisonous plants, presenting a potential pitfall to the animals and youth. Now, a new, free app designed by UF/IFAS researchers and Extension faculty helps you identify toxic plants. Not only is this the first app to identify strictly Florida plants, it’s also the first to distinguish between toxic weeds. …
Florida NRCS Severe Erosion Signup Ends Dec 4
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida is providing Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) funds to help agricultural producers address severe erosion and irrigation retrofit. But, applications for financial assistance are due Friday, December 4. Producers in these counties are eligible to apply: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, Gadsden, Liberty, Franklin, Gulf, Calhoun, and Bay counties. Florida State Conservationist, Juan Hernandez, …
USDA Updates National Conservation Handbook
We told you a couple of days ago U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) had completed and published updates to its set of National Conservation Practice Standards. The national handbook is reviewed every five years and contains some 170 standards for states to use. Kevin Norton, NRCS Acting Chief explains. Norton says USDA will continue to review its conservation practices …
White Strawberry One of Two New UF/IFAS Varieties Ready for Harvest Season
(UF/IFAS) — A white strawberry? Not red? Yes, you “read” that right. And it smells a little like a pineapple. It’s also novel in that it’s the first white strawberry to go to market in the United States. Just in time for the west-central Florida strawberry harvesting season, which runs from now until the end of March, UF/IFAS is releasing …
National Cotton Harvest Pace Ahead of Average
While cotton harvest continues to lag a bit across the Southeast, USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says the national harvest pace is ahead of average. USDA notes 96% of the nation’s peanut crop had been harvested as of this past Sunday. With harvest winding down for most crops, Rippey says this is the last crop progress report for 2020. In Alabama, …
FDACS Encourages Producers Impacted by Tropical Storm Eta to Seek USDA Disaster Assistance
(FDACS) — With Tropical Storm Eta’s flooding and high winds impacting Florida agricultural operations, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is encouraging farmers and livestock producers to seek technical and financial assistance available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As agricultural producers assess damages, they should contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program …
Commission to Consider Oyster Harvesting Ban
(NSF) — Members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will be asked on Dec. 16 to finalize the suspension of wild-oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay for the next five years. The issue, which will be part of a two-day online commission meeting, stems from efforts to improve the oyster population and revitalize the collapsed fishery. Commissioners on July …