citrus

A Methodical and Safe Approach to Help Florida Citrus

Dan Citrus, Florida

Florida’s farmers depend on healthy soil and clean water to produce crops. It’s how my family has grown citrus, strawberries and cattle for more than four generations. The quality of our natural resources has a direct impact on our crops and livelihood. I am a fifth-generation Floridian who was raised by a line of farmers, ranchers and businesspeople. All of …

citrus

Florida Senate Ag Chair on Water: ‘Science Is on Our Side’

Dan Florida, Legislative, Water

During Wednesday evening’s Florida Cattlemen Association legislative reception festivities near the state Capitol, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Ben Albritton said water issues abound in discussion circles this year. In this brief report, Albritton emphasized agriculture’s presence in the legislative process is critical. He added that the facts about agriculture must be heard above misinformation and misguided rhetoric that too often …

hemp industry

Agriculture Chairman Seeks State Hemp Program

Dan Florida, Specialty Crops

With officials seeing a potentially lucrative industry, Senate Agriculture Chairman Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, is proposing creation of a state hemp program. Albritton on Thursday filed a bill that would set up the program under the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill came after Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried last week named Holly Bell as the state’s first director …

lawnakers

Lawmakers Funnel $100 Million to Florida Forever

Dan Environment, Florida, Industry News Release, Legislative

Neglected for nearly a decade, the Florida Forever conservation program would get $100.8 million in a proposed $88.7 billion budget that lawmakers are expected to approve Sunday. Rep. Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican who chairs the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, said most of the money would go for land preservation. “We started at a much lower number …

redistricting plan

House Eyes Tax Help for Agriculture Industry

Dan Industry News Release

Florida’s Hurricane Irma-battered agriculture industry, growing anxious as it awaits federal disaster relief, could land some help from the state House as part of a tax-cut package. The House Ways & Means Committee, which is putting together a package, reviewed three measures Wednesday intended to help the industry, which sustained an estimated $2.5 billion in damages from the deadly September …