Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried appeared before Members of Congress from Florida to discuss key issues facing the agriculture industry. At the invitation of delegation co-chairs U.S. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings and U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, Fried spoke on a panel alongside industry group leaders from the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, and the Florida Forestry Association. Commissioner Fried raised …
Commissioner Nikki Fried Letter to USTR’s Lighthizer: “Put American Farmers & Families First”
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 …
FFB President on Ag Commissioner Fried: ‘She’s the Real Deal’
Speaking with AgNet Media’s Gary Cooper last week at the state Capitol during Florida Farm Bureau (FFB) Days in Tallahassee, FFB President John Hoblick said he’s impressed with the passion and communicative capabilities that the state’s new agriculture commissioner brings to the job. Hoblick said he and others in Florida agriculture are growing with concern about the communications challenge to …