From Your Land-Grant Partner

From Your Land-Grant Partner

FloridAgriculture eNews, August 2020

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An absolutely essential part of the work of University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is also one of the most enjoyable. It’s the ongoing conversation with Farm Bureau partners to ensure our science is relevant to farmers’ needs.

It started even before I was hired as the UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources. President Hoblick served on the search committee, and we talked during the leadership transition.

The Farm Bureau and UF/IFAS need each other. Farm Bureau members are some of the most ardent champions for UF/IFAS in Tallahassee. We at UF/IFAS know this happens because you see us as being responsive to Florida agricultural needs.

I work for you. My job will always be to listen and learn from you, but even more so in the next few months as I develop a deeper understanding of Florida agriculture and natural resources. I want to visit with as many Farm Bureau leaders as time and travel will allow.

The relationship between the land-grant university and Farm Bureau during my time in Georgia was hand in glove. You should hear it from Zippy Duvall, who was the Georgia Farm Bureau president while I led the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Duvall is, of course, now president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, and we strengthened our relationship when I was director of the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“I’ve known Scott for more than 15 years going back to his time as dean at the University of Georgia and in his leadership role at NIFA, so believe me when I say he’s going to impress you,” Duvall said in a statement for the Florida Farm Bureau Federation eNewsletter. “With both direct university experience and the benefit of a bird’s-eye view of U.S. and global agriculture, Scott is uniquely positioned to lead the University of Florida’s agricultural programs through the current crossroads of unprecedented change, challenge and opportunity.”

I am honored to receive such a strong endorsement from one of the most important stakeholders any land-grant university has.

UF/IFAS is a powerful resource in intellectual capacity and infrastructure. Call upon us anytime and anywhere. Our job and the reason we wake and work each day is to support you and others leading one of the state’s largest and certainly the most significant industry.

There are some things I take with me from Georgia to Florida, like the importance of close collaboration with the Farm Bureau. Other things I’ve left behind. If there’s a certain football game in October, I will not be stuck in the past. I’ll do the chomp. Then I’ll get back to work for you.

Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and leader of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

Read a Q&A with Dr. Angle in the July issue of FloridAgriculture magazine.