Following Secretary of Agriculture Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Irma The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private nonprofit organizations located in Florida as a result of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 9 – 12, 2017. The loans are available in the following …
Judge Refuses to Leave Conservation Funding Case
A Leon County circuit judge this week refused a request by legislative leaders for his disqualification from a case about whether the state has properly carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment backed by environmental groups. Judge Charles Dodson issued a one-paragraph order Monday denying a motion for his disqualification. Dodson last month ruled that lawmakers had failed to properly comply …
EWP Helps Florida Landowners after Storms
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida wants landowners to remember that if your area does suffer damage from a natural disaster, the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) can help relieve imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms and hurricanes. EWP Helps Florida Landowners after Storms Sponsored ContentFlorida Senator Shares Origins of Florida Cattle Enhancement …
UF Researchers Zero in on Potential Threat of New Mosquito Virus
A virus responsible for an illness outbreak in Venezuela is spreading to other parts of the Americas, says a University of Florida scientist who is closely monitoring the Mayaro virus. Most recently, the virus was found in a child in Haiti in 2016. Even though the virus hasn’t infected anyone in Florida or the U.S., Barry Alto, an associate professor …
Is Lake Okeechobee Algae Becoming Political Football?
Seasonal rains keep falling in south Florida and Lake Okeechobee water levels and water releases keep making national news. The so-called green algae again heads through canals and urbanizing areas toward the ocean to the East and the Gulf of Mexico to the West. Farmers south of the lake continue to fight misinformation spread by anti-agriculture interests in the region …
Weekly Livestock Market Report
Here are the weekly livestock market reports for Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, for the week ended July 13, 2018, compiled by the Livestock Market News Service for all three states. AL Livestock Market Report: AL Livestock Market Report At Alabama Livestock Auctions for the Week ended Jul 13, 2018, receipts at 21 markets totaled an estimated 14,200 head compared to …
Ted Yoho: Citrus Greening Research Funding Is Imperative
The House and the Senate have passed their versions of the farm bill. Now it is time for appointed legislators to hammer out the details for the final version of the bill. Ted Yoho, U.S. Congressman and member of the House Committee on Agriculture, believes that including funding for citrus greening is vital for the Florida citrus industry. Before returning …
UF, Georgia Tech Scientists to Begin Work on More Drought-Tolerant Peanut
Farmers and consumers can benefit from a more drought-tolerant peanut, and scientists from the University of Florida and Georgia Institute of Technology will soon begin research to develop a more resilient crop. With it, growers would be able to produce more market-ready peanuts, and consumers can get more of the protein-filled legume. UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences agronomists …
White House Backs Everglades Reservoir
The White House on Tuesday backed Florida’s effort to secure federal funding for a reservoir intended to move water away from Lake Okeechobee and reduce discharges that residents blame for repeated toxic algae outbreaks spreading on both coasts. The request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to include funding for the roughly $1.6 billion Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, approved …
UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory Director Inducted into Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association Hall of Fame
When Craig Watson, Director of the University of Florida IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, got his first aquarium at age 7, he couldn’t have predicted the important role that fishing and aquaculture would play in his life. “My brother and I would spend hours watching the fish, but I had no idea then it would be the beginning of a career.” On June …