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Local Farmer Selected for Elite National Advocacy Program

Web AdminFlorida, Industry News Release

Bryan Jones, president of Putnam/St. Johns County Farm Bureau has been appointed to serve on a national advocacy program for young farmers and ranchers. The two-year Partners in Advocacy Leadership (PAL) Program is sponsored by American Farm Bureau Federation and is designed to help today’s agricultural leaders accelerate their engagement abilities and solidify their role as advocates for agriculture. “The American Farm Bureau …

Watch Out for Sweet Potato Weevil

Web AdminPests, Sweet Potatoes, Top Posts

By Breanna Kendrick What’s small, black, has six legs and causes a lot of damage to sweet potato crops? The sweet potato weevil. Once this pest is present and fields become highly infested, it’s very difficult to control. The weevil causes unsightly effects to the outside and inside of the sweet potato, making it hard to move the product through …

UF/IFAS Seeking the Next Breakthrough Crop

Web AdminResearch, Specialty Crops

By J. Scott Angle, jangle@ufl.edu, @IFAS_VP Danny Johns is growing the same crop on the same land as his great grandfather did when he started farming in Hastings a century ago. PURPLE SWEET POTATOESBut Johns was immediately interested when University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension agent Wendy Mussoline invited him to look at purple sweet …

Asian Vegetable Crop Interest Increasing in Florida

Web AdminTop Posts, Vegetables, VSCNews magazine

By Mary Dixon, Yanlin Wang and Guodong Liu At the 2019 Florida Ag Expo, visitors gathered at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) for a trade show and field tour. Students and faculty from the University of Florida (UF) set up an Asian vegetable display that was visited by approximately 75 growers, educators, students and Extensions agents. Visitors …

Florida Growers Pave Way for New Crops

Web AdminFlorida, Produce, Top Posts

By Karla Arboleda Tradition runs deep in Florida, but the state now has more growers producing a new range of specialty crops. PURPLE SWEET POTATODanny Johns, a fourth-generation potato farmer, grows a purple sweet potato with a fresh aesthetic and more nutrients to promote healthier eating. Aside from being brand new eye candy, Blue Sky Farms’ new variety grows right …

Southeastern Agriculture Well Represented at PMA Fresh Summit

Web Admininnovation, Produce, Top Posts, Vegetables

The Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) annual Fresh Summit took place Oct. 17-19 in Orlando, Florida. Every year, this huge summit brings members of the global produce and floral industries together to make connections and mingle with fellow industry professionals. Every year, southeastern agriculture has a huge presence at the summit, most notably in the Fresh from Florida and Georgia Grown …

Crop Diversification Considerations

Web AdminAgri-business, potato, Sweet Potatoes, Top Posts

By Breanna Kendrick There is a big push on nutrition in our nation right now, so it’s important that farmers are able to diversify to meet the demands of those seeking healthier diets. Wendy Mussoline, a University of Florida multi-county agriculture Extension agent for Flagler and Putnam counties, works with farmers who want to incorporate new crops into their production …

Specialty Crop Grower Magazine: Coordinated Control for Whitefly-Transmitted Viruses

Clint ThompsonSpecialty Crop Grower Magazine

By Maegan Beatty In the last 25 years, the number of whitefly-transmitted viruses affecting vegetable production in Florida and the southeastern United States has steadily increased. The rise in average winter temperatures, the development of widespread resistance to broad-spectrum insecticides and the absence of new varieties with resistance to the multitude of new viruses have collectively contributed to this increase. …

UGA Studying Water Spinach as Potential Crop

Clint ThompsonGeorgia

By Clint Thompson University of Georgia is engaging in research that could lead to the production of a new crop for Georgia’s specialty crop producers. Tim Coolong, associate professor in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, describes the early process of researching water spinach, a crop that is produced throughout Southeast Asia. “We are looking at …

Specialty Crop Grower Magazine: Farming Fulfills South Georgia Producer Jaime Patrick

Clint ThompsonGeorgia, Specialty Crop Grower Magazine

By Clint Thompson It was a typical mid-summer scene in South Georgia: scorching temperatures, dusty fields and farm work in progress. For youngster Jaime Patrick, it was just another day at Patrick Farms in Omega, Georgia. “Working here on the farm in the summers, we were growing sweet potatoes at the time. We always had people walk behind the transplanter; …