Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried sent a letter to Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative, raising serious concerns about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The pending multilateral trade agreement and successor to NAFTA, called “definitely worse than the current situation,” threatens to devastate business for American seasonal crop growers, particularly those in Florida, Georgia, and other Southeast states due to a lack of …
Fried, Lawmakers Eye Hurricane Damage
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried continued Friday to push for state and federal hurricane relief for the Panhandle as she led a bipartisan group of lawmakers and staff members through rural communities still struggling from deadly Hurricane Michael. Saying farmers are “suffering,” Fried said the trip to see Calhoun County timber land, where decades-old slash pines reaching maturity were wiped …
Backing Bill to Help Florida Agriculture
Agriculture is backing bills currently in both the Florida House and Senate dealing with the Constitutional Revision Commission. Florida Cattlemen’s Association (FCA) Director of Governmental Affairs, Sam Ard, explains. Sponsored ContentFlorida Senator Shares Origins of Florida Cattle Enhancement BoardNovember 14, 2025CIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsNovember 8, 2025Florida Cattle Enhancement Board Plays Critical Role To Extend ResearchNovember 7, 2025Florida Cattle Enhancement Board Funded Research …
NRCS Florida State Technical Committee Meeting
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida has announced they will conduct a State Technical Committee Meeting on May 21, from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Doyle Conner Agriculture Building Auditorium in Gainesville. The meeting is open to the public and will give an overview of the 2018 Farm Bill programs and conservation easements. This year’s …
Ranchers Invited to Florida Beef Cattle Short Course
Ranchers across the state of Florida are invited to attend the 2019 Florida Beef Cattle Short Course, May 8-10, in Gainesville. This year’s program titled, “Connecting the Dots, Calf to Carcass”, will cover a variety of topics. Some of those include looking at Market and Industry Trends in the Beef Business, Customer Satisfaction and National Tenderness Survey, Value and Mechanics of Meat Exports, …
Federal Program Repairs Popular Arcadia Park
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has provided $740,000 to DeSoto County through Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) assistance to help to repair hurricane damage a popular park in Arcadia, Fla. Hurricane Irma struck Southwest Florida as a Category 3 in fall 2017. The hurricane dropped from 10 to 15 inches in the Peace River drainage area, which covers 1,367 square miles. The Peace …
If You Eat, You Are Involved in Agriculture
By Sen. Ben Albritton I have enormous respect for Congressman Francis Rooney and his life of public service. However, I have grave concerns about the congressman’s recent misinformed, inaccurate, and hostile comments about agriculture in Florida. Describing any sector of Florida agriculture as a “menace” clearly shows a lack of understanding of how agriculture has been a highly successful partner …
A Balancing Act
In the world of small business there is a constant balancing act between what needs to be done versus what can be properly achieved with the resources available. For a grower, this means some farm improvements may be put off while addressing the main priorities of producing and harvesting a marketable crop. In the sector of niche journalism, under which …
Industrial Hemp Eyed to Help Farmers
Pointing to potential opportunities for farmers, state House members Tuesday continued moving forward with a plan that would help set the stage for an industrial-hemp industry in Florida. The state is trying to move quickly to take advantage of a 2018 federal law that legalized industrial hemp as an agricultural product. The House and Senate are working on bills that …
DeSantis, Cabinet Sign Off on Land Deals
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet on Tuesday approved paying more than $15 million to buy and preserve nearly 5,700 acres of land in South Florida and near the Georgia border in separate deals. The bigger of the two Florida Forever program purchases calls for spending $14.775 million to buy 5,534 acres within an area of Hendry County known …