AgNet Online

Valent USA has received federal registration from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Presidio™ Fungicide in leafy vegetables, cucurbits, fruiting vegetables and grapes.

Read more from Valent.

Report (1:00 mp3)

Some compounds found in fruits and vegetables appear to help fight certain types of cancer, including leukemia, breast, colon and prostate cancer.

Report (1:00 mp3)

USDA reports that consumption of onions, sweet corn, celery, cabbage, carrots, pumpkins and tomatoes were up last year. And melons were up three percent, hitting a record high of 8.5 billion pounds – or over 21 pounds per person.

Report (1:00 mp3)

May 7, 2008 - GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Peter Stoffella has been named director of the Indian River Research and Education Center, an appointment that became effective May 5. Stoffella, a horticulture professor with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, had served as the center’s interim director for 11 months. He served as an associate director for the center since 2002. “Coming from within the system, my learning curve is a little bit easier than someone coming from outside,” he said. (more…)

Prospects for a new farm bill with provisions for specialty crops are alive again as conference committee members believe they are close to a compromise bill that could be wrapped up by the end of the week. Committee Chairman Senator Tom Harkin updated farm broadcasters meeting in Washington on Wednesday.

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Peaches, prunes, pears, walnuts, lettuce and artichokes are among the crops affected by a freeze last week in California.

Report (1:00 mp3)

Congressman Adam Putnam of Florida this week introduced legislation to modernize America’s food safety network. The Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards and Targeting Act, or “Safe FEAST Act,” would establish new food safety requirements for domestically produced and imported food to identify and prevent potential sources of food-borne illness.

Read more here.

Report (1:00 mp3)

Big differences still remain between congress and the administration over the Farm Bill, and agriculture Secretary Ed Shafer says unless they get closer to a compromise by next week, a long term extension of the current farm bill is likely.

Report(1:00 mp3)

Meanwhile, the House has finally named members for a farm bill conference committee.
Report 1 (:30 mp3)    Report 2 (1:00 mp3)

List of all the conference committee members here.

Among the members is Adam Putnam of Florida.
FL Report(1:00 mp3)

The Scholarship Board of the Florida Fertilizer and Agri-Chemical Association (FFAA) is working hard to make this year’s golf tourney the best ever. It is scheduled for Thursday May 1, 2008 at Lake Wales Country Club. If you’re involved in Florida agriculture in any way, we hope you’ll get involved with a team or at least offer some level of sponsorship, in support of the FFAA Scholarship Fund. PLEASE see the form (pdf file) for information, you can print and fax directly into the FFAA office as directed on the form (pdf file) .

The U.S. Department of Labor has granted a two-week extension of the comment period for the proposed overhaul of the migrant farm worker visa program. The original deadline was Monday. Under the program changes, employers would be required to seek U.S. employees for a longer period of time before they could recruit foreign workers.

The H-2A visa program is designed to help farmers and ranchers hire seasonal workers from Mexico and elsewhere. The administration wants to allow growers to apply directly through the federal government, rather than state agencies. The Department of Labor envisions a transition to an Internet-based submission system in the future.

Report (1:00 mp3)

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced the appointment of members to the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade, including Mike Stuart with the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association.

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Mike Stuart with the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association says they are keeping a close eye on this year’s Florida legislative session to make sure cuts for research programs at the University of Florida IFAS are not too severe.

Report (1:00 mp3)

A Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Resistant Tomato Variety Trial Field Day will be held on Tuesday April 8, 2008 from 10 AM till noon at Six L’s Farm Op 8, which will highlight 14 entries of tomato yellow leaf curl resistant varieties of tomato from BHN, Harris Moran, Hazera, Sakata, Seminis, and the University of Florida IFAS in a replicated trial in comparison with susceptible varieties. The on-farm trial site is located in Sunnyland south of Immokalee approximately 2 miles south of CR 858 on SR 29. The entrance to the field is on the east side of the road. See attached map (pdf file)and look for the Field Day signs which will direct you to the trial.
Thanks to Gene McAvoy and Monica Ozores-Hampton, University of Florida/IFAS, Vegetable Crop Extension, for the information contained in this post.

Specialty crop interests are frustrated by the latest extension of the 2002 farm bill, however Mike Stuart with Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, who is co-chairman of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, says they remain optimistic a new farm bill can be passed.

Report (1:00 mp3)

The Georgia vegetable industry recently overwhelmingly passed a new vegetable marketing order and Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association executive director Charles Hall says the industry is really growing in the state.

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Specialty crops got special notice at USDA’s 2008 Outlook Forum in Washington DC.

Tom Stenzel with the United Produce Association talked about how the industry has pulled together in recent years to get recognition in farm legislation.

Report (1:00 mp3)

The Georgia Vegetable Commission is pleased to announce the passage of a vegetable marketing order. The marketing order passed with an 80% margin of favor. (more…)

Making a strong statement that the Florida agriculture industry is far from waning, well over a thousand producers and ag industry leaders joined Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson for fellowship and dinner while honoring this year’s four inductees into the industry’s most exclusive club of pioneers. This year’s honors went to (l to r) “Pete” Clemons, Okeechobee; Hugh English, LaBelle; Fritz Stein Jr, Belle Glade & Dr Alto Straughn, Waldo. Each of this year’s winners were accompanied to the event by dozens of their own local supporters, and hundreds of producers and industry leaders made it a night as well. Southeast AgNet hats are off to these exceptional people who have had so much impact on an industry that is so important to all of us, economically and otherwise. Learn more about the winners (more…)

A new tomato disorder has been observed in several fields in Hillsborough and Manatee counties that is being called tomato purple leaf disorder. Specialists at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center are urging growers to be on the lookout for the disorder which has been localized in the two county region since 2006 and appears to develop only on leaves exposed to sunlight.

Read more in pdf document.

Report (1:00 mp3)

Georgia vegetable growers who received a ballot in the mail to vote on a marketing order need to vote and return that ballot by Tuesday February 12.

Report (1:00 mp3)

LAKELAND, Fla. (February 6, 2008) – Florida Citrus Mutual commended the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wednesday for proposing changes to the H-2A agricultural guest worker program. (more…)

Regardless of what you may have been told about comments he “reportedly made…” you can now hear in the report below, in his own words, what University of Florida President Bernie Machen thinks of the Florida agriculture industry and the budget crisis facing the University and the State of Florida as a whole. Speaking to us here at Southeast AgNet moments ago in an effort to reach Florida agriculture directly, Machen wants to set the record straight about comments attributed to him that he says he never made. Machen also wants agriculture to understand the severe budget challenges facing the University of Florida and other state institutions going into this year’s legislative session.
UF Pres Bernie Machen Interview (4:42 mp3)

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This week’s Annual Meeting and Legislative Breakfast events hosted by the Georgia Agribusiness Council in Atlanta drew a good crowd of the state’s agriculture leaders, numerous lawmakers and legislative staffers. One of the big news items of the day is the announcement by GA Governor Sonny Perdue that some of the watering restrictions in Georgia will be relaxed, for now anyway, to help support the nursery industry and efforts by the public to establish new plantings of trees and shrubs. Governor Perdue also is set to sign a new state water bill today that Georgia agriculture industry leaders have been very involved in helping to develop. In the reports posted herein, hear Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s comments to the media (mp3)right after he spoke to the GAC breakfast this morning. Also hear comments from Georgia Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association Exec Charles Hall (mp3) including an update about a referendum deadline coming up for GA Vegetable producers to vote on a new marketing order; Georgia Farm Bureau President Vincent ‘Zippy’ Duvall comments (mp3) on the water bill and other present concerns for Georgia agriculture; and GA Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin also offers comments (mp3) for our listeners, speaking to us just before the GAC breakfast this morning. Also to see who’s in these photos, just place your cursor over each photo and the cut line will appear.

We’ve been contacted by several farm groups and industry leaders who are urging farmers to contact University of Florida’s President and the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives to say “no” to disproportionate cuts to the IFAS budget.
Dade County Farm Bureau writes, “It seems that some people want to believe that agriculture in Florida is a dying industry. At the very least, some of our lawmakers want to use that as a reason for proposing drastic cuts to the IFAS budget.

HAVE YOU RETURNED YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE YET?

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USDA has released its final report on fresh market vegetable and melon production for 2007.

Report (1:00 mp3)

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance wants to see the House and Senate farm bills reconciled to get a bill friendly to specialty crops signed by the president instead of reverting to old law or extending the current bill.

Report (1:00 mp3)

In this report, comments from Acting U S Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner late last week, about the talk in some circles about the Farm Bill reverting to ‘permanent law’ should differences in House and Senate versions not get worked out. Report (2:00 mp3)
Hear the entire Conner interview in a previous post to this website.
BY THE WAY, BREAKING NEWS…Today the U S Senate voted unanimously to approve former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer as the new Secretary of Agriculture.
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Acting U S Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner talked about specialty crops when he was in Florida last week.

Report (1:00 mp3)

FEBRUARY 4TH IS THE DEADLINE - HAVE YOU RETURNED YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE YET?

In these two reports, excerpts from an exclusive interview with Acting U S Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner during his quick visit to Florida this week. Conner explains concerns he says are holding up Farm Bill progress in Congress. Hear the entire Conner interview in a previous post to this website.
Report (1:00 mp3) Report (1:00 mp3)
FEBRUARY 4TH IS THE DEADLINE - HAVE YOU RETURNED YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE YET?

Acting U S Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner is traveling heavily these days all over the nation, making talks and engaging agriculture folks in discussions about Farm Bill negotiations that seem logjammed in Congress. In Florida this week to talk citrus issues, and to meet with a national gathering of farm cooperatives going on in Orlando, we appreciate being given exclusive access to Conner for the phone interview posted in this report. All specialty crop producers should listen closely to Conner’s concerns about the Farm Bill. Report (9:00 mp3)

FEBRUARY 4TH IS THE DEADLINE - HAVE YOU RETURNED YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE YET?