If you have a few projects around the farm in you need to get started on but keep putting them off, then now’s the time to get serious about them. Florida’s first “tool time” sales-tax holiday on tools and other home-repair and construction items will kick off this weekend. According to the News Service of Florida (NSF), the seven-day holiday …
Black Farmers Vie for Marijuana License
(NSF/TALLAHASSEE/June 24, 2022) — A 99-year-old matriarch who began her agricultural career in cotton fields in Northwest Florida. A rancher who served in Vietnam and grew up in an Alachua County community terrorized in the past by lynchings. A family that got its start picking apples on a New York farm. They’re among people vying for a potentially lucrative medical-marijuana …
Vilsack Announces Appointments to The Cotton Board
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the appointment of new members, alternates, and advisors to serve on The Cotton Board. The appointees will serve three-year terms. Newly appointed members: Michelle Tarry, Importer – NJ; and Tara Hoffmann, Importer – NY. Newly appointed alternate members: Caroline P. Collins, Producer – GA; Joe Cuervo, Importer – TX; and Scott C. Wagner, Importer – FL. Reappointed members: Adam …
Fiddle-Leaf Figs are an Evergreen Ornamental “In” Plant to Have
One of the top-selling houseplants known for it’s style in magazines and hotel lobbies. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Native to West African lowland rain forests, fiddle-leaf figs are an evergreen ornamental also known as banjo fig or lyre leaf tree. You can grow them outdoors if you live in the right climate, but they are more …
The Cotton Board Approves Cotton Incorporated’s 2022 Budget
The Cotton Board recently held its 2021 Annual Meeting in Durham, North Carolina, along with Cotton Incorporated’s Board of Directors. This is the first in-person meeting for both boards since March 2020. At the meeting, board members serving the Cotton Research and Promotion Program reviewed, analyzed, and voted to recommend Cotton Incorporated’s 2022 budget. The new $82 million budget reflects …
Avoiding Heat-Related Deaths
A new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) report showed 215 people in Florida died from heat-related causes in the last 10 years. The fact that heat-related deaths happen throughout the year surprised the researchers who wrote the report. Serap Gorucu, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, helped write the report. She and …
Bradley Wins 2021 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship
(OVERLAND PARK, Kan./June 9, 2021) — Chuck Bradley, from Rockford, Ala., was named the 2021 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion at the 57th annual competition held at Dickson Regional Livestock Center, Dickson, Tenn., and presented by the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA). “It was such a surreal moment,” Bradley said. “I was in awe. You go back and look at the other …
Secretary Perdue Announces Groundbreaking Proposal
Proposal to Transfer Agricultural Animal Biotechnology Regulatory Framework to USDA (Washington, D.C., December 21, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced today a significant step in modernizing regulations of agricultural animals modified or produced by genetic engineering. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be moving forward with an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to solicit public input and …
Nobel Prize Serves Notice: The U.S. is Falling Behind in Race to Adopt Key Technology for Farming
(NPPC) — For more than two years, by claiming regulatory jurisdiction over gene edited livestock, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stalled the development of an emerging technology with tremendous promise for livestock agriculture, including improved animal care, production efficiency and environmental impact. The scientists who invented one of the most promising forms of this technology – the …
USDA Encourages Ag Producers, Residents to Prepare for Hurricane Sally
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds communities, farmers and ranchers, families and small businesses in the path of Hurricane Sally that USDA has programs that provide assistance in the wake of disasters. USDA staff in the regional, state and county offices stand ready and are eager to help. In a continuing effort to serve …