While producers and growers across Florida lost some, if not all, of their crops due to Hurricane Irma, a University of Florida researcher saw his experimental bedding survive the storm. “We were testing for flooding, and didn’t expect to have winds strong enough the effects of wind force on crops,” said Sanjay Shukla, UF/IFAS professor in the agricultural and biological …
Root Biologist Joins UF Fight Against Citrus Greening
An inventive fruit tree researcher has joined the University of Florida Indian River Research and Education Center. Lorenzo Rossi is the center’s first-ever root biology professor and will support the university’s statewide Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ commitment to restore Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry. “Healthy roots are essential for a healthy plant. Dr. Rossi’s root biology research will …
Florida Growers Reminded about FAWN Cold Protection Toolkit
The recent cold snap is a good time to remind growers across Florida about the Florida Automated Weather Network’s (FAWN) Cold Protection Toolkit, which is designed to help you make decisions when using irrigation for cold protection. The toolkit basically provides a “step-by-step guide” to help with making decisions on cold nights. And many growers may be familiar with “My …
A Fair Fight for Florida Farmers
On the face of it, it’s not a fair fight. Farming in Florida is hard enough, but then the rules of that fight constantly change. New bugs and diseases raid crops. Volatile markets say plant now while the weather says plant later. Consumers keep changing their minds about what to eat. New plant varieties give farmers a fighting chance by …
Florida Forest Industry Generates Nearly $13B in Annual Sales, 36,000 Jobs
Florida’s forest industry generated $12.55 billion in sales revenues in 2016, which translated to more jobs, according to a new UF/IFAS economic report. The sales figure is up about $4.77 billion from 2003, according to the report. More money sometimes means more jobs, and in the case of the forest industry, it did. For 2016, the industry directly employed 36,055 …
Solutions to Citrus Greening Top 10 2017 UF/IFAS Stories
From lobsters to oranges, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences embraced stories of resilience and change during 2017. The top 10 stories for UF/IFAS during 2017 include finding ways to manage a disease that is crippling the citrus industry to helping lobstermen find damaged traps after Hurricane Irma to researchers discovering a new ant species in …
UF Studies Shows What Some Bugs Do for Love, Like Sacrificing a Leg
Males of many species must compete for mates, often using body parts scientists call “weapons” to defeat their opponent, survive and in some cases, produce more offspring, University of Florida researchers say. As an example, deer develop antlers, which help them compete with other male deer for female attention and to survive battles with predators in the wild kingdom. Now, …
UF Assistant Professor Wins National Agronomy Award for Innovative Sugarcane Research
A University of Florida plant scientist, who has created varieties of sugarcane that are grown across more than 90 percent of Florida and in several Central American countries, has been given a national award for his innovative work. The American Society of Agronomy has awarded the Early Career Scientist Award to Hardev Sandhu, a sugarcane specialist at the UF Institute …
UF/IFAS-Developed Sorghum Cultivars Can Produce Thousands of Gallons of Ethanol
Sweet sorghum is not just for breakfast anymore. Although sorghum is a source for table syrup, scientists see a future in which we convert sorghum to biofuel, rather than relying on fossil fuel. That potential just grew as University of Florida researchers found three UF/IFAS-developed sorghum varieties could produce up to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre. “Sweet sorghum has …
Challenge Raises More Than 20,000 Pounds of Peanut Butter for the Hungry
Spread the cheer and the protein! Some families will get more healthy food to eat, now that Florida Panhandle residents donated a record of more than 20,000 pounds of peanut butter for this year’s UF/IFAS Extension Peanut Butter Challenge, organizers said. Combine nearly 9,000 pounds in donations to UF/IFAS Extension county offices with 11,340 pounds from the Florida Peanut Producers …