National Hurricane Relief… The Disaster Continues Ongoing state and federal efforts to secure relief funding for farmers and ranchers affected by Hurricane Michael continue to hit various roadblocks. The Florida Legislature approaches the end of session with little to show for our Panhandle communities, and federal appropriators are halting an entire multi-billion dollar relief package [...]
NAP Buy-Up Coverage Option & Enhancements for Military Veterans USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has announced that higher levels of coverage will be offered through the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) through May 24, 2019. Producers can obtain buy-up coverage for 2019 or 2020 eligible crops for which the NAP application closing date has [...]
New Dairy Welfare Guide Released The International Dairy Federation (IDF) released a new publication to promote the implementation of good animal welfare practices in dairy production globally. The update identifies five action areas to be considered when developing and implementing quality management systems for dairy animal welfare, including stockmanship, feed and water, the physical environment, [...]
CUPS Grown Grapefruit Higher Yield Researchers are seeing positive results from an experiment to shield Florida grapefruit under a protective screen knows as “CUPS”. The system, “Citrus Under Protective Screens”, has been used by commercial growers and UF/IFAS scientists to prevent the deadly citrus greening caused by the dangers Asian citrus psyllid. In Florida, grapefruit [...]
Zucchini Festival Celebrates 35 Years The 35th annual Windsor Zucchini Festival will take place Saturday, May 11 at the Windsor Volunteer Fire Station. Festivities begin at 9:00 a.m. and go on until 4:00 p.m. The festival celebrates the zucchini harvest and agriculture in the area. There is an arts and craft show, plant sale, plant [...]
More Questions than Answers with Hemp As Farm Bureaus around the country pled for a Farm Bill last year, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts approached Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor. “What can we do to get this Farm Bill done on time, Mitch?” “Pat, we’re not passing a bill without legalized hemp.” [...]
Florida Farm Bureau Sets 2019 Legislative Agenda In February, Florida Farm Bureau’s State Board of Directors approved its legislative agenda for the upcoming legislative session. With 2019 being a transition year–the state welcomes a new Governor, Cabinet, House Speaker and Senate President–Florida Farm Bureau is assessing each chambers’ priorities and how they will work with [...]
Mandatory Dicamba Training Addresses 2019 Regulatory Changes On March 20, from 9 – 11 a.m. CST (10-12 EST), a mandatory Dicamba Stewardship Training session will web broadcast to participating Extension Offices across Florida. New for 2019, all applicators using dicamba over-the-top in herbicide-tolerant crops (cotton and soybean) will be required to have a restricted use [...]
Advocating at the Capitol Every year, our members have the opportunity to travel to the state Capitol to tell their stories directly to their elected officials. Stories about the many challenges facing the farming community or stories about how they personally invest in the protection and improvement of natural resources. Members also have the ability [...]
Bee Technology Pilots in Florida Bee Vectoring Technologies, International Inc., (BVT) has developed bee vectoring technology designed to use bees to naturally deliver plant health products directly to targeted areas of a plant. The primary target crops for the BVT system are strawberries and blueberries. The system is being piloted to a select group of [...]
