From the Desk of Dr. Angle

By J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP It is expensive to seek science-based solutions to strawberry diseases. So is failing to seek them. So when pestalotia arrived here, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association chose to invest in science—again. This time, it was a six-figure check to help UF/IFAS strawberry breeder Vance Whitaker launch a wide-scale search […]

By J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP Without one of the most ancient of technologies, the wheel, we might not be celebrating the centennial of Wish Farms here in Plant City. Its #AgIsAmerica story starts on the streets of Manhattan in a single pushcart selling fruits and vegetables. It continues with the Wishnatzkis migrating to Central

By J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP If you’re a regular reader of Central Florida Ag News, you may have seen the big news about a planned UF/IFAS ag tech center in Hillsborough County. This center is one of the best ways we know how to keep you globally competitive. Simply put, innovation is what has

By J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP They’ve long been local 4-H legends. Now they’ve been inducted as Florida 4-H Hall of Famers: Judy Raymond of Polk County and Carl and Dee Dee Grooms of Hillsborough County are among this year’s inductees. UF/IFAS Extension Polk County Director Nicole Walker and 4-H agent Shreemoyee Ghosh nominated Raymond

There’s a future for Florida citrus because of people like Steven Callaham. He serves Florida agriculture, he sells a vision, and he relies on good solid science to innovate his way through the HLB crisis. That last part is where UF/IFAS comes in. Arnold Schumann of the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center has done

Like your Extension agent, I can’t do an important part of my job from the office, unless you consider a Ford Explorer an office. To visit face-to-face with Extension agents, researchers, farmers, and ranchers, I drive 30,000 miles a year. When I joined UF/IFAS in July 2020, I pledged to visit Extension offices in all

Marshal Sewell grew up in a strawberry farming family in Plant City wanting to be a farmer. Casey Simmons Runkles grew up in a strawberry farming family in Plant City wanting to be anything else. Hillsborough County agriculture is fortunate that neither succeeded. They’re two of the area’s emerging agricultural leaders. But Sewell left his

By J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP   UF/IFAS continues an all-hands-on-deck/solutions-now response to HLB to accelerate our science to the speed of need.   This preceded my arrival, but since I became the leader of UF/IFAS two years ago my message to our researchers has been to focus first on what can benefit growers right

by J. Scott Angle jangle@ufl.edu @IFAS_VP   An important way UF/IFAS supports the local blueberry industry is the development of new varieties. Another way we help is the development of new leaders.   If you’re active in the industry, this roster will sound familiar to you: Florida Blueberry Growers Association (FBGA) Executive Director Brittany Lee,

During the two years Leigh Ann Wynn spent in the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources, she changed jobs, changed careers, adopted a son, joined the Polk County Farm Bureau board and became chair of the UF/IFAS Extension Polk County advisory committee. Coincidence? I’m not saying Wedgworth alone transformed her. But it put