infrastructure

Fried Touts Infrastructure Bill, DeSantis Raises Doubt

Dan Economy, Florida

We told you earlier this week the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The package is designed to creating jobs by rebuilding our nation’s roads and bridges, and combatting the climate crisis. According to the News Service of Florida (NSF), a fact sheet from the White House shows Florida is in line to …

desantis

DeSantis Could Bypass Cabinet on DEP Pick

Dan Florida, Legislative

(NSF/June 15, 2021) — Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested he might not get sign-off from the state Cabinet for his next appointee to run the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In what would be a precedent-setting action, DeSantis indicated he might only need approval of the appointee from the Legislature. The issue came up during a Cabinet meeting when Agriculture Secretary …

Commissioner Nikki Fried Hosts Zoom Discussion on Black Farmers Debt Relief

Dan Economy, Florida

(Tallahassee, Fla./June 11, 2021) — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried hosted a Zoom conversation with Black elected, agricultural, and financial leaders to discuss the history of systemic discrimination in farm lending. In the past century, Black participation in farming has decreased 85 percent in Florida, while 90 percent of Black-owned farmland has been lost across the nation. Under the Biden Administration, the USDA has acknowledged this historic …

Tractor-spraying-pesticides-on-cherry-orchard.shutterstock_1083807734.jpg

Florida Challenged Over Pesticide Decision

Dan Citrus, Cotton, Environment, Florida, Huanglongbing (HLB)/Citrus Greening, Peanuts

(TALLAHASSEE, Wednesday, May 12, 2021/NSF) — Amid arguments about the troubled citrus industry and the health of farmworkers, a chemical company is challenging a state decision to block a pesticide that could help fight a disease that has caused massive damage in citrus groves. AgLogic Chemical, LLC filed an administrative challenge Tuesday, about three weeks after the state Department of …

conservation

Commissioner Nikki Fried & FDACS Submit Public Comment on USDA Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy

Dan Environment, Florida, USDA, Weather

Tallahassee, Fla. – Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services submitted formal public comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s implementation of the President’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. As part of the Executive Order, the USDA was directed to collect stakeholder input on a climate-smart agriculture and forestry strategy. Commissioner Fried …

court

Ag Commissioner Fried on Water Wars Ruling

Dan Aquaculture, Florida, Water

(NSF) — After years of legal battling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected a lawsuit in which Florida argued Georgia has used too much water in a river system shared by the states. The 12-page ruling dismissed the lawsuit that Florida filed in 2013 after the oyster fishery collapsed in Franklin County’s Apalachicola Bay. Florida contended that Georgia …

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried: 30-Day FDACS Legislative Update

Dan Florida, Legislative, News from Our Sponsors

(FDACS) — This is the halfway mark of Florida’s 60-day annual legislative session. Below, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services offer an update of the department’s priority legislation for the 2021 legislative session. “I’m proud of our common-sense, bipartisan legislative priorities this year, which include fighting child and family hunger, supporting Florida’s farmers, major climate and energy …

fried

Fried & FDACS Launch Bilingual Farmworker Vaccine Education Campaign

Dan Coronavirus, Florida, Labor and Immigration, News from Our Sponsors

With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming available for at-risk populations in Florida, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services launched a bilingual vaccine education campaign to encourage COVID-19 vaccination among Florida’s farmworkers and agriculture community. A recent study found that food and agricultural workers are among those most at risk of death from COVID-19, facing a 39 percent increase in excess …

partnership plan

Fried Releases FDACS & Biden Administration Partnership Plan

Dan Economy, Florida, Industry News Release

(FDACS) — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, an independently-elected member of the Florida Cabinet, hosted a press conference announcing the release of the FDACS Biden-Harris Administration Partnership Plan: Keeping Florida & America Growing, a state-federal partnership plan. The plan outlines areas of future collaboration between the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, The White House, and federal agencies including the U.S. Departments …