The Florida Bamboo industry is an up-and-coming sector of Florida Agriculture, and the Florida Bamboo Growers Association (FBGA) is a group of independent growers, researchers, and allied organizations working to support one another and promote the bamboo industry in the state of Florida.
As a growing organization supporting a growing industry, FBGA is taking numerous steps to promote Florida bamboo. Among those steps are:
- Hiring Marketing Specialist Ambar Acevedo. Ambar is leading development on several projects for FBGA, including: a hub for markets, connecting buyers looking for bamboo culms or shoots with Florida-based growers; member spotlights, in order to further develop a community within bamboo growers; and networking and developing connections to bring new partners into FBGA.
- Collaborating with Dr. Davie Kadyampakeni and Dr. Michael Rogers of UF-IFAS, Don Rockwood of Florida Fast Growing Trees, and Cathy Atchley of OnPoint Ag on research into bamboo growing. The Key Project research will collect data from the harvests of Florida bamboo applications in order to track industry growth and to help maximize individual farm production. Interested growers can have their data tabulated and access the results for $25 per acre.
- Development of a five-year forecast for the Florida bamboo industry, covering crop production of both shoots and wood.
- Negotiating an agreement wherein farmers under existing Deferment Agreements can pay a one-time fee to cancel these agreements. This will enable farmers to receive the value of their crops, pay their harvesters and pay their caretaking and other farm costs. It removes the uncertainty of when their farms could have cash flow. This should have a strong positive impact on the future of bamboo farming in Florida.
Florida Bamboo Growers Association publishes their updates regularly on their LinkedIn page. Interested parties are welcome to connect with them on this platform.
