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Strawberry AgriUpdate

Growers Looking Forward to Good Season by CHERYL ROGERS Damage to the Plant City area strawberry crop appears to have been minimal when temperatures dipped below freezing in January.  “We’re not at peak production, but we’re pretty close,” says Joel Connell, production manager at Grimes Farms, where temperatures dipped to 22 degrees Fahrenheit.  “Our freeze […]

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Florida Cattlemen’s Sweetheart Offers Tips on Teaching Youth About the Industry

by MARY TOOTHMAN We asked Sweetheart Milli Jones, 21 and a junior agricultural education and communications major at the University of Florida, for suggestions on getting young people psyched about the cattle industry. Her recent experience working as a substitute teacher has enhanced her insight into how to give young people positive ideas about the industry.

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Teaching Teachers at Plant Camp

UF/IFAS Plant Camp Offers Florida Educators a Close Look at Florida Flora and Fauna by GRACE BOGGESS The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has opened applications for its popular and free 2018 Plant Camp and will be accepted until February 18. The five-day workshop takes place from June 11 to

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The First of Many Winners

Local Citrus Grower Named 2018 4R Advocate by TFI by ERIKA ALDRICH Fertilizer has always played an important role in agriculture, and it’s more important than ever with a growing world population and the need to grow more on less land. It’s also become apparent that the unsystematic use of fertilizers is bad for the

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Landscaping and Gardening Trends of 2018

Homeowners Get Growing with Plants for Pollinators, Succulents, Foodscaping, and More story by CHERYL ROGERS photos by LUIS BETANCOURT HEDGES out of rosemary? Purple cabbage interspersed with croton shrubs? Don’t be surprised. People seem to be looking for something healthy— and something different— in the landscaping and gardening scene. Vegetable gardening, a long-term trend, continues

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Looks Can be Deceiving

Beautiful Ornamentals that are Dangerous for Livestock by TERESA SCHIFFER Raising livestock can be a tricky business. There are a lot of details to attend to, especially when it comes to proper nutrition. It can be tempting to simply turn creatures out into the field and let them rummage on their own, but this can

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On the Watch for Strangles

Florida Equine Community Reported More Than 40 Cases in Past Year by MARY TOOTHMAN The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has confirmed several recent additional premises with strangles in the state — bringing the total number to 42 in the past year. Strangles, a highly contagious upper respiratory disease found in horses, was

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Weather Stations in the Field Help Farmers Make Split-Second, Smart Irrigation Decisions

Florida Growers have been installing their own weather stations in increasing numbers. With help from the UF/IFAS Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN), they have been able to more accurately determine when to irrigate to protect their crops from freezes. “The onsite data is exponentially more useful,” explains Rick Lusher, FAWN director. But this fiscal year,

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