| Teaching kids about agriculture through hands-on training gets a new twist this year | BEING HELD this year on April 6-10 and April 13-17 in Bartow, one event hosts 6,000 fourth-graders for hands-on agriculture fun and learning. This year, Agri-Fest offers time-honored traditions and new insights, showing what agriculture in Polk County is all […]
What’s new at Agri-Fest? Read More »
| The Polk Agriculture Economic Impact Study reveals ag as an economic pillar | NEARLY HALF of Polk County’s land remained in farm use in 2012, although acreage declined nearly 17 percent the preceding decade. “The traditional industries of production agriculture and mining have been gradually declining over the last ten years,” according to a
Study results shed light on agriculture’s economic significance Read More »
| Strawberry growers look to technology to help save money and increase production | Sixty-five-year-old Carl Grooms has been growing strawberries for more than four decades, but it’s not routine, and never business as usual. As his business card attests, he is “still learning.”
High-tech alerts and the quest for a better berry Read More »
| What participants learned at the Polk County Youth Fair’s Commercial Steer Show | EVERY YEAR at the Polk County Youth Fair, local youth, FFA members, and 4-H Club students alike have a unique, hands-on learning opportunity. Each youth begins a project in which they raise livestock or horticulture, and then publicly shows the “fruits
Showing steer for more than just show Read More »
THE GOVERNMENT is intensifying the war on Huanglongbing, or HLB, as the disease tightens its grip on Florida’s citrus industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected Feb. 10 that Florida will harvest 103 million boxes of oranges this season, down two percent from last year, the lowest on record.
Citrus forecast projects slight decline; HLB funding announced Read More »
| Featured vendors and events at the 2015 Equine Innovations Expo | HORSE ENTHUSIASTS love the equine accessories and accoutrement that go along with the sport and hobby of riding almost as much as they love the horses themselves. With that in mind, Eques Solutions, Inc., an equine marketing and promotional company, is hosting the
An expo for the equine lover Read More »
| Recent UF/IFAS webinar discusses opportunities and challenges of agricultural trade with Cuba | THIS PAST DECEMBER, President Obama made a televised speech regarding Cuba that caused everyone to pay attention; those in Florida agriculture should take special note. On December 17, President Obama announced a move toward normalized relations between the U.S. and the
AgriGov: Taking a look at the Cuban factor Read More »
| How Vance Whitaker invented a better berry | In Vance Whitaker’s office in Wimauma, a philodendron vine drops out of the ceiling, seemingly from nowhere. The vine is older than he is. You have to peek into the next office to find the potted plant that put forth the vine that snakes through the
A Sweet Sensation™ for growers Read More »
| New partnership between attraction and UF/IFAS expands horticulture horizons for the public | A PARTNERSHIP between the historic, Lake Wales-based Bok Tower Gardens and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) aims to help make the gardens a more integral part of learning. “We don’t go to an elementary and
Cultivation, NOT construction, at Bok Tower Gardens Read More »
| New leadership for UF/IFAS Horticulture to strengthen the industry and research ties | UF/IFAS HAS 14 ACADEMIC departments and two schools, so I spend a lot of time finding the right people to lead them. Finding a new chair for the Department of Environmental Horticulture was easy, because I already employed an ideal candidate
Meet Dr. Sandy Wilson of UF/IFAS Read More »
