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Contents

4 INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 WWW. INTHEF I E LDMAGAZ INE .COM

FeatureAprile Brothers

CelebratePPaaggee

5544

VOL. 9 • ISSUE 8

Business Up Front

Page 10

Master Gardener

Page 14

Tampa BayFishing Report

Page 18

Rocking Chair Chatter

Page 22

Ag Abilities

Page 24

John Joyner

Page 44

Solar Cooking

Page 49

Recipes

Page 50

New Trends

Page 52

Chinese Ag Resources

Page 58

Horse Dumping

Page 70

Naturally AmazingActivities

Page 72

Planting the Seeds

Page 75

“Mr. Fred” Retires

Page 78

Hump-Backed Cows

Page 83

Hurricanes - PreparingYour Landscape

Page 89

The Driving Forcein the Community -Stingray

Page 91

®

Danny Aprile ..............................PresidentBill Burnett .........................Vice PresidentJemy Hinton ..............................Treasurer

Amanda Collins, Roy Davis, David Drawdy,Jim Dyer, James Frankowiak,

Stefan Katzaras, Greg Lehman,Kenneth Parker, Jake Raburn,

Alex Ritzheimer, Marty Tanner, James Tew,Patrick Thomas, Ron Wetherington, Michelle Williamson, Will Womack,

Ray Wood

DIRECTORS FOR 2012-2013

Valrico Office813.685.5673

100 S. Mulrennan Rd., Valrico, FL 33594Tommy Hale, CLU, ChFC, CASL,

CPCU Agency Mgr.Julie Carlson, John McGuire

Plant City Office813.752.5577

1302 S. Collins St., Plant City, FL 33563Jeff SumnerBill Williams

Tampa Office813.933.5440

1046 W. Busch Blvd., Ste. 100Tampa, FL 33612

Greg Harrell, Jeff Harper, Ralph Russo

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

HillsboroughCounty

Farm Bureau

Farm BureauInsurance

Special Agents

AGENCY MANAGERTommy Hale

Judi Whitson, Executive Director813.685.9121

100 S.Mulrennan Rd.Valrico, FL33594

Office Hours: Monday - Friday8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Insurance Services: 813.685.5673Member Services: 813.685.9121

Cover photo by Stephanie Humphrey

INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 5W W W. I N T H E F I E L D M AG A Z I N E .C O M

From the Editor Index of Advertisers�ITFM Staff


While we are blessed with “cookout” type weather almost everyday, with June 21 bringing the first official day of summer, I feltsome tips for food safety were in order.

Nothing ruins a family gathering like spoiled food that causesillness. And with our temps, food borne bacteria replicates fasterthan you can blink.

These food related illnesses can be easily avoided by following afew tips found on the Florida Department of Agriculture’s website.

Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs should never be eaten raw. Thesefoods should be maintained in a refrigerator at a temperaturebelow 40 degrees Fahrenheit and cooked thoroughly beforeeating. A cooking temperature of 160 degrees is advised.

WWhheenn ccooookkiinngg,, uussee aa mmeeaatt tthheerrmmoommeetteerr oorr ffoollllooww tthheessee ttiippss:• PPoouullttrryy:: Cook it until the meat is white, and don’t eat it if

you see blood or pink meat.• HHaammbbuurrggeerr:: Cook it until there are no traces of pink in the

center, or blood in the juices.• SStteeaakkss:: Can be safely cooked medium; that’s because harmful

bacteria in beef are found on the surface of the steak, not in the interior like in ground meats.

• FFiisshh:: Cook until it flakes easily and is no longer translucentin the center.

• EEggggss:: Cook eggs and egg dishes thoroughly. Don’t even sample anything containing raw eggs such as uncooked dough and cake batter.

• Keep foods cold, below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or hot, above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Foods left out between those temperatures for more than two hours should be discarded.

• Keep cooked foods separate from raw foods. Cross-contamination of foods could occur if bacteria-harboring raw food comes in contact with cooked foods. Wash hands, utensils, cutting boards and countertops after preparing or handling raw meats.

• Avoid interrupted cooking. If you are partially cooking foodsindoors to finish cooking on the grill, make sure the food goesdirectly from the oven to the hot grill. Don’t let the food standpartially cooked for any period of time.

And of course, remember to buy food that is Fresh From Floridafor your cookout and every day.

Until Next Month,

Sarah

Dad’s Towing....................................................................74Discount Metals...............................................................21Dr. Barry Gaffney O.D. PA.............................................11Driscoll’s............................................................................40Eshenbaugh Land Company..........................................41Everglades Farm Equipment ........................................104Farm Bureau Insurance...................................................76Farm Bureau Insurance/Jeff Sumner..............................86Farm Credit ......................................................................68Felton’s ..............................................................................51Fishhawk Sporting Clays ................................................92Florida Dept. of Agriculture............................................37Florida Mineral, Salt & Agricultural Products.............85Florida Strawberry Growers Assoc................................81Forbes Road Produce ........................................................7Fred’s Market.................................................................. 86Gator Ford........................................................................26Gladstone..........................................................................12Grimes Hardware Center ...............................................57Grove Equipment Service ..............................61, 79 & 98 Halfacre Construction Company...................................40Harold’s Feed & Pet Supply ................................3 & 101 Harrell’s Nursery, Inc.......................................................90Haught Funeral Home....................................................67Helena Chemical-Tampa ................................................87Hillsboro State Bank........................................................77Hillsborough County Farm Bureau..................80 & 101Hinton Farms Produce, Inc.............................................21Home Pro Pest Control...................................................28Huff Muffler.....................................................................44I-4 Power Equipment ......................................................34Jane Baer Realty.............................................................102Jarrett-Scott Ford................................................................2Johnson’s Barbeque............................................................9Jon & Rosie’s Tree Farm.................................................44Ken’s Well Drilling & Pump Services, Inc.....................71Key Plex............................................................................20Loetscher Auto Parts .......................................................26Malissa Crawford............................................................57Mark Smith Excavating..................................................86Meryman Environmental, Inc........................................93Mike Milliron...................................................................80Mosaic...............................................................................25Myers Cleaners.................................................................36O’Connor Enterprises, Inc..............................................48Parkesdale Market...........................................................12Pathway BioLogic............................................................42Plant City Homestyle Buffet..............................................5Plant City Tire & Auto Service, Inc...............................86Platinum Bank..................................................................62QLF Specialty Products...................................................13Railroad Credit Union.....................................................93Savich & Lee / Stalnaker.................................................16Seedway ............................................................................71Shrimp & Co Express.....................................................26Southside Farm & Pet Supply.......................30, 71 & 97South Florida Baptist Hospital .......................................88Southwestern Produce Company...................................27Squeal Deal.......................................................................90Stephanine Humphrey.....................................................90Stingray Chevrolet .........................................................103Super Service Tire & Auto..............................................69The Hay Depot................................................................15Timberlane Pet Hospital & Resort ..................................9Trinkle, Redman, Swanson, Coton,Davis & Smith .................................................................69Turkey Creek Animal Hospital ........................................7Vertigro .............................................................................74Walden Lake Car Wash..................................................24Waller’s Lawn Equipment...............................................63Wells Memorial................................................................75Willie’s ...............................................................................19Woodside Dental..............................................................80Zaxby’s..............................................................................29

ABC Pizza................................................................80Ag Technologies......................................................46Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers .............................32Alto Recycling, LLC...............................................82Antioch Feed and Farm Supply............................95Aquarius Water Refining.......................................82Astin Strawberry Exchange...................................41Badcock....................................................................23Bankers South .........................................................84Bill’s Transmissions.................................................32Bingham...................................................................60Brandon Auto Services, Inc. ..................................90 Brandon Regional Hospital...................................66Brewington’s............................................................25Broke & Poor..........................................................87Caller-On-Hold.......................................................85Cameron Financial .................................................23Cecil Breeding Farm...............................................38CF Industries..........................................................45Chancy’s Catfish Shack.........................................15Chuck’s Tire & Automotive ................................36Crescent Jewelers.................................................. 41

PUBLISHER/PHOTOGRAPHY

Karen Berry

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Al Berry

SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Sarah Holt

EDITOR

Patsy Berry

OFFICE MANAGER

Bob Hughens

SALES MANAGER

Danny Crampton

SALES

Al BerryTina Richmond

Danny CramptonMelissa Nichols

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Mona Jackson

PHOTOGRAPHY

Karen BerryAl Berry

Stephanie Humphrey

STAFF WRITERS

Al BerrySandy Kaster

James FrankowiakSean GreenGinny Mink

Libby Hopkins

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Woody GoreLes McDowell

In The Field Magazine is published monthly and is available through local HillsboroughCounty businesses, restaurants, and many local venues. It is also distributed by U.S. mail toa target market, which includes all of the Greenbelt Property owners, members of theHillsborough County Farm Bureau and Strawberry Grower’s Association.

Letters, comments and questions can be sent to P.O. Box 5377, Plant City, Florida 33563-0042or you are welcome to email them to: iinnffoo@@iinntthheeffiieellddmmaaggaazziinnee..ccoomm or call 813-759-6909

Advertisers warrant & represent the descriptions of their products advertised are true in allrespects. In The Field Magazine assumes no responsibility for claims made by advertisers. Allviews expressed in all articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of BerryPublications, Inc. Any use or duplication of material used in In The Field magazine isprohibited without written consent from Berry Publications, Inc.Published by Berry Publications, Inc.

The Lord make His face shine upon you andbe gracious to you.–Numbers 6:25

Index of Advertisers

You Too, CanBe A WinnerHey Readers, hidden somewhere inthe magazine is a No Farmers, NoFood logo. Hunt for the logo and onceyou find the hidden logo you will be eli-gible for a drawing to win a FREE NoFarmers No Food Sticker. Send usyour business card or an index cardwith your name and telephone number,the number of the page which youfound the logo and where on that pageyou located the logo to:

InTheField® MagazineP.O. Box 5377

Plant City, FL 33566-0042Winners will be notified by phone.

You Too Can Be A Winner!Search for the logo below and enter now!


8 INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 W W W. I N T H E F I E L D M AG A Z I N E .C O M

A MESSAGE OF APPRECIATION FOR THE RESULTSOF OUR LEGISLATIVE SESSION; AND CONTINUED SUPPORT

AND INVOLVEMENT IN AG-ABILITIES

100 South Mulrennan Road • Valrico, FL 33594 • 813-685-9121

Board of DirectorsDanny Aprile, President; Bill Burnett, Vice-President; Jemy Hinton

Member-at-large; Amanda Collins, Roy Davis, David Drawdy, Jim Dyer, Jim Frankowiak, Stefan Katzaras,Greg Lehman, Kenneth Parker,Jake Raburn, Alex Ritzheimer, Marty Tanner, James Tew, Patrick Thomas, Ron Wetherington,

Michelle Williamson, Will Womack and Ray Wood,Judi Whitson, Executive Director

Dear Readers:

“Thank You” is a must way for me to beginthis message to you. That is, my thanks toour Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott fortheir efforts in passing legislation that had beenthe focus of Florida Farm Bureau and to thegovernor for his signature making this legislationstate law. I hope you will read the article in thisedition of IN THE FIELD that providesinformation on the legislative action and newlaws that help our farmers and ranchers, as wellas the economy of Florida.

I must also express my sincere gratitude toFarm Bureau members from across the statethat traveled to Tallahassee to meet with theirrespective state legislators during Legislative Dayor took the time to contact their elected officialsat the local level. Those visits and meetings helppersonify the efforts of Farm Bureau, educate ourofficials and support the hard work of our stateFarm Bureau staff.

Last month was also the time for our annualAg-Abilities Program at the Florida StateFair. This program combines agriculturaleducation and competition for special needsstudents in a half-day program that originatedlocally thanks to the efforts of Jon Goff. Aswith many of our initiatives, the support of

agriculture and volunteers are critical aspectsof this annual event. To those organizationsand fine volunteers, I extend my thanks.

Legislative outreach and the excellent resultsachieved, plus continuation and growth ofAg-Abilities are two more reasons why youshould belong to Farm Bureau. Both are differ-ent, but each is important.

Once again, I wish to remind you that youdon’t have to be a farmer or rancher to becomea Farm Bureau member. Visit: wwwwww..hhccffbb..oorrggor call 813-685-9121 for information aboutmembership and the many benefits available to you and your family.

Thank you,

DannyDanny AprilePresident


• A cow can give milk only after it has a calf.• A cow that eats only grass can give about 50 glasses of milk a day.• A cow that eats grass, corn, hay and mixed feeds can produceabout 100 glasses of milk a day.

• Cows eat about 90 pounds of nutritious food a day; 90 pounds offood equals about 210 baked potatoes.

• If you milked cows by hand, one person could milk about eightcows an hour. A dairy could milk about 60 cows an hour with oneman and 14 machines.

• One cow will produce about 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.• The cows need to drink lots of water so they can make milk. Cowsdrink 25 to 50 gallons of water a day. That is nearly a bathtub full!

• Milk that the cow gives has two parts to it, nonfat milk and cream.• The most popular dairy breed in America is the Holstein.• It takes about 350 squirts to get a gallon of milk from a cow, andmost cows are milked twice a day.

• It takes 3 gallons of milk to make one gallon of ice cream, and30 cups of milk to make one pound of butter.

• The average dairy cow weighs 1,400 pounds.• Each dairy cow is fed 50 to 90 pounds of grain and hay each day.• The plastic milk jug was introduced in the U.S. in 1967.


Plant City residents pride themselvesin the legacies of venerable business-es located therein. Surely if you’ve

been in town any length of time you knowall about Snellgrove’s and Whistle StopCafé. These are longstanding entities.In addition to those delectable diningestablishments, there are other businessesthat have called Plant City home longerthan I’ve been alive. Two such institutionsare Turkey Creek Animal Hospital andAnimal Wellness Center, both having beenfounded in the 1950s. These companieswere recently acquired by Jim and JennNash.

We spoke with Jim and he shared, “Mywife, Jenn, and I (she is the veterinarian)purchased Turkey Creek in June of 2011,so it’s coming up on two years that wehave owned that practice. Honestly, I haveno agricultural background. I grew up in asuburb of New Haven, Connecticut andother than going to the Farmer’s Market,we had a garden in the back yard, but thatwas the extent of my agricultural experi-ence. It was the North so 4H wasn’t quiteas prolific as it is in the South. Jenncertainly was much more involved androde horses for most of her life and was ajumper and competed all through middleschool, high school. That’s always been apassion. So for her, animals have always

been part of her enthusiasm and excite-ment about life and certainly about herprofession.”

Jim continued, “We both graduated fromthe University of Florida. Jenn finished herundergraduate in ‘99 and is a 2003 DVMgrad. I graduated in 2000 with myBachelor’s and then in 2003 with myMaster’s in healthcare administration.I worked in the human industry for a num-ber of years and then transitioned to vet-erinary medicine when we moved toColorado in 2004. The primary catalystfor my transition was, obviously, my wifeis a veterinarian and our long term dreamwas practice ownership. So we worked fora number of years for a practice up there inthe North Denver area and then we decid-ed that we wanted to come back to all ourfriends and family that are here in Florida.It was sort of a homecoming for us to getback to the Sunshine State.”

Upon their return, they found themselvesin the position to achieve their goal. Jimexplains, “We came back and purchasedTurkey Creek from Dr. Michael Marks andDr. Steven Lewis. They’d owned thepractice for over thirty years. Dr. Marksactually purchased the practice fromDr. May who had started the practice inthe ‘50s, a lot of local history with both

practices. We have a lot of pride in thatlegacy and the responsibility we feeltowards that legacy to make sure that itcontinues. Dr. Marks stayed on with usafter we purchased the practice and wehope that he stays on for a while.” Onepractice turned into two according to Jim.He says, “We were given the opportunityto purchase Animal Wellness Center inMarch of 2012. In spite of it being just ashort time since we purchased TurkeyCreek we felt like it was a fantastic oppor-tunity and one that we couldn’t easily passup. Both practices have tremendous localhistory and we have a tremendous amountof respect for that.”

This respect that Jenn and Jim have forlocal history drives them towards constantimprovement. Jim expounds, “Part ofour efforts is to continue that excellencethat they started, to keep the local doctor,local feel. In spite of us having multiplepractices, it’s very important to us that wemaintain that local feel to the practices andcertainly where people know their veteri-narian. We recognize that this is part of thesuccess of our practice and the wellness ofour patients. We have made a lot of effortssince we purchased both the practicesand we hope we are raising the standardof care, transitioning to longer termvaccinations and improving the care of our

Business Up Front

FOR YOUR FURRY FAMILY MEMBERS By Ginny Mink

TURKEY CREEK ANIMAL HOSPITAL AND ANIMAL WELLNESS CENTER

Dr. Nash Dr. MarksDr. DeHaven


patients. Customer service is the biggestdifferentiator for us so we make a lot ofefforts to recognize our clients, to do sortof small things that make a big difference.”

This focus on what Jim compared to theCheers mantra, where everyone knowsyour name, has led the Nash’s to establishsome rather unique methodologies. Jimsays, “We treat their pet’s visit with usmore like an experience than a doctor visit.We have a welcome board and everypatient’s name is on there when they comein. It’s a neon sandwich board that lightsup and we’ve gotten a really great responseto that. People feel it’s a much more per-sonal experience, that we’re expectingthem. That’s the level of service we strive toprovide. We are introducing new technolo-gy. We offer text messaging for reminders

for your appointments. We do onlinesurveys to get feedback from our clients.We offer emailing receipts for people whodon’t want a paper receipt but they want tohave a record for what their pet receivedfor that day. We take pictures of all thepatients that come in and those pictures

end up on the face of their reminder card.We think it’s tremendously valuable whenyou open the mailbox and all the suddenthere’s Fluffy’s picture on your stack ofmail. From a values standpoint it makesyou feel really good that there’s Fluffy andfrom a marketing standpoint, it’s some-thing that our clients are going to look atand we think that their pet’s healthcare istremendously important.”

In closing Jim adds, “We want our clientsto know we appreciate them and we appre-ciate the opportunity to care for their pet.In June of 2012, Turkey Creek AnimalHospital was awarded accreditationthrough the American Animal HospitalAssociation (AAHA). The accreditationprocess is extremely rigorous to insure thatthere’s a minimum standard of care beingmet and there’s over 900 standards thathave to be met and less that 17% of all vet-erinary practices in the country earn thatlevel of accreditation. We are pretty proudthat we were able to accomplish that inunder a year of when we purchased thepractice.” He also wanted to make surereaders got to meet the vets that willbe serving them. So, here’s a list of thosepeople who will treat your furry familymembers with much love:

JJEENNNN NNAASSHH,, DDVVMM,, CCVVAA (CVA is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist)2003 University of Florida GraduateInterests in: acupuncture, nutrition andholistic/alternative approaches in concertwith Western therapies.

MMIICCHHAAEELL MMAARRKKSS,, DDVVMM1978 Cornell GraduateServing patients in the Plant City community for more than 30 years. Dr. Marks takes tremendous pride inmaking a difference in the lives of patientsand clients.

JJOOAANNIIEE DDEEHHAAVVEENN,, DDVVMM2010 University of Florida GraduateInterests in: dentistry and oral health. She has helped develop improved dentalprotocols, including full mouth digitaldental radiographs.

And next month in July we welcome –

RRAANNIIAA GGOOLLLLAAKKNNEERR,, DDVVMM2010 University of Minnesota Graduate(UF undergrad)Interests in: internal medicine and wellness. She will be at the AnimalWellness Center location.


1133


Recognition of the Hillsborough County Extension ServiceMaster Gardener Program has reached new heightsthrough awards for the quality of instruction new Master

Gardeners receive and the outreach they initiate using a variety oftechniques. “Our master gardeners have long been a source ofhelpful information on gardening topics to residents throughoutthe county,” said Extension Director Stephen Gran, “and theseawards, which pitted elements of our program against othersacross the state, recognize multiple dimensions of that program.”

The objective of the Master Gardener Program is to teach citizenvolunteers horticulture information and provide them with toolsto effectively answer citizen questions. It is designed to facilitate abasic knowledge of Central Florida gardening, and to inspire con-fidence, critical thinking and application, using a variety of teach-ing methods. Urban Horticulture Agent/Master GardenerCoordinator Nicole Pinson created and was honored for a train-ing book utilizing active learning strategies to complement andreinforce lectures from UF/IFAS specialists, county faculty and

volunteers. The Florida Association ofCounty Agricultural Agents (FACAA)honored Pinson for creating a docu-ment that helped lead to “well-trainedvolunteers who possess an ability tosolve problems and determine appro-priate recommendations that extendthe education potential of the agent,provide cost-effective delivery of serv-ices, decrease environmental impactsand afford opportunities for connect-ing with the community.”

Early in 2012, MasterGardeners began receivingHillsborough County resi-dent phone calls regardingthe death of their impatiensand asking how they couldprevent this from happen-ing. Pinson asked MasterGardener Shari Rutherfordto research the problem,compile a summary of theissue, determine symptomsand control and developalternatives to using impa-tiens in the landscape. Theresult of Rutherford’s efforts included an article on downy mildewthat was helpful to Master Gardeners who used her informationwith phone, email and walk-in Extension customers. It was alsoused at library plant clinics, garden club meetings and speakers’bureau presentations. In addition, the article was used by facul-ty members of the Green Team to develop a UF/IFAS fact sheet fordistribution to homeowners and commercial clientele.Rutherford’s initiatives, coordinated with Pinson, received anAward of Excellence from the Florida Master Gardener AwardsProgram.

Florida Master Gardeners also received recognition for a specialeducational program coordinated by Extension and WTIS-1110AM Radio. It is a weekly radio program, “Garden Talk,” whichairs Saturday mornings. Each program is archived for future useon the Garden Talk website. The station initially approachedExtension Agent Lynn Barber who enlisted staff and MasterGardeners’ assistance with the development of one hour segmentson various gardening related topics. Working with Pinson andBarber, Master Gardeners Heather Diaz, Bob Dickey, CynthiaGlover, Harriet Gord-Noghani and Pat O’Shea worked on diverseshow segments. To date the program has been broadcast to anestimated 480,000 listeners with more than 6,000 listening toarchived programs which continue to be available for reference byMaster Gardener classes and via the Extension website. “We areespecially indebted to WTIS-1100AM for the station’s outreach toExtension and willingness to work with us through thiseducational program,” said Pinson. In addition to weekly airtime, the station also provided help with program marketing andrelated tools.

The last award recognized a cooperative effort, involving MasterGardeners and the Friends of Plant Park, a group which plansevents and fundraisers to support maintenance of the park andhistoric landmark on the campus of the University ofTampa. These two groups annually organize GreenFest, an educa-tional event for residents of the county and surroundingareas. This two-day gardening festival features a HillsboroughCounty Master Gardener tent with an “Ask the GardeningExperts” booth and a Speakers’ tent. Both are staffed by MasterGardener volunteers responsible for coordinating speakers,

By Jim Frankowiak

Peer RecognitionHonors Attest To Quality OfMASTER GARDENERAdvice And Instruction

developing the education-al programming, market-ing and publicity, volun-teer organization andworking with the Friendsof Plant Park. MasterGardeners Heather Diazand Toni Armstrong coor-

dinated with Friends of Plant Park and are two of the more than 40Master Gardeners who volunteer during the two-day event. Thisyear’s GreenFest attracted nearly 3,500 attendees.

“While none of us involved in the Master Gardener Program doesso for the opportunity to win awards like these, it is especially grat-ifying to be recognized by our peers throughout Florida,” notedPinson. “These awards also showcase the type of activities ourMaster Gardeners are involved in.” Currently, there are 1450 activeMaster Gardener volunteers and they range in age from the mid 30sto late 70s.

“We have four active members who were in our first MasterGardener class in 1980,” said Pinson. “They are Bob Dickey, EileenHart, Mary Kay Ross and Jean Skoien. Al Hendry of the 1984class also continues his involvement.” Pinson said many transfersfrom different areas and parts of the country are signing up “andthey come from diverse backgrounds, some with no previousgardening experience. We look for their willingness to serve and tobring their talents to help extend Extension.” Among currentvolunteers are retired executives, school administrators, librariansand others, she said.

“We still have need for more volunteers, and I would encouragethose with an interest to visit our website:

((hhttttpp::// //wwwwww..hhiillllssbboorroouugghh,,iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu)) and learn more about theprogram,” said Pinson. The Master Gardener Class is a 10-weekcommitment, for approximately seven hours per day, one day

each of the 10 weeks. The course fee is $175 and Master Gardener trainees are required to complete 75 hours of

volunteer service in year one, and obtain 10 continuing educationhours. After year one, the minimum requirement for volunteerservice is 35 hours annually and 10 continuing education hours.

“We will have no more than 20 members in our upcoming class(late August, early September startup; December graduation)

and the DDEEAADDLLIINNEE FFOORR SSUUBBMMIITTTTIINNGG AANN AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN IISS JJUULLYY 1122,” said Pinson. Classes are held at the Extension office,

5339 County Road 579, Seffner, FL 33584. Phone: 813-744-5519 •




Iwas very excited about the grand openingof the new North Tampa Market at theCarrollwood Cultural Center in Tampa

((wwwwww..ccaarrrroollllwwooooddcceenntteerr..oorrgg)). It made itsdebut to a packed crowd on May 11. Themarket is the brainchild of TiffanyFerrecchia, Director of Operations forTampa Bay Markets. Her company’s missionis to support a locally based food system thatimproves public health and well being byincreasing dietary intake of fresh fruits andvegetables. They also want to improve accessto fresh fruits and vegetables for all theresidents of the Tampa Bay area, whileenhancing the capacity for sustainable foodproduction, processing and distributing byaddressing the needs of the producers. Themarket is held the second Saturday of everymonth, rain or shine, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.It is replacing the market that was at theWestchase Town Center. “The market atWestchase Town Center did not allow us togrow as we would like to and we had someelectrical issues being under the power linesthat were there,” Ferrecchia said. “Our newlocation at the Carrollwood Cultural Centeris very inviting and people love it.”

The center has a large shaded area behind it,which makes a great place for a market. Theyalso have a lot of free parking in the front ofthe building. The cultural center offers aplethora of opportunities for residents,including classes in painting, music, art anddance. The center also provides an in-housetheater company, a children’s theater,concerts and an art gallery. The center andthe farmer’s market seem to be a match made

in heaven because they both have a lot of thesame interests, such as supporting the localeconomy. “The Carrollwood Cultural Centergives the market a neighborhood feel to itand that’s something our customers love,”Ferrecchia said. The market features over 50vendors with an emphasis on local goods.When you come to the market, you will findgourmet take-home foods, ready-to-eattreats, plants, fresh cut flowers and locallygrown fruits and vegetables. There is also anarray of hand crafted gifts, artwork and livemusic. “We will always have live music andwe are booked up for the next few months,which is great,” Ferrecchia said. The marketis also pet friendly with lots of water bowlsspread throughout the market to keep yourpet hydrated.

Open-Air Fresh Markets like the NorthTampa Market and other farmer’s marketsare starting to pop up more and more incities all over the country. According to theUntied States Department of Agriculture’sAgricultural Marketing Service, urbanfamer’s markets are on the rise. “Farmersmarkets are an integral part of theurban/farm linkage and have continued torise in popularity, mostly due to the growingconsumer interest in obtaining fresh productsdirectly from the farm. Farmer’s marketsallow consumers to have access to locallygrown, farm fresh produce, enables farmersthe opportunity to develop a personalrelationship with their customers, andcultivate consumer loyalty with the farmerswho grows the produce. Direct marketing offarm products through farmer’s markets

continues to be an important sales outlet foragricultural producers nationwide.” TheUSDA website (www.ams.usda.gov) says,“As of National Farmer’s Market Week, (thefirst full week in August), there were 7,864farmer’s markets listed in the USDA’sNational Farmer’s Market Directory. This isa 9.6 percent increase from 2011.”

Farmer’s markets also give a big boost to thelocal economy and that is something that isvery near and dear to Ferrecchia’s company.Each of her markets provide a venue for localgroups, businesses and non-profit organiza-tions to interact with the community andthereby strengthen community spirit via themarket place. She also loves giving the smallbusiness owner a storefront for a few hourswhile they are at her market. “Our companyis really focused on providing an opportuni-ty for small business to reach the publicdirectly,” Ferrecchia said. “Direct sales anddirect customer marketing is the real keyto small business development and for us tobe able to offer them that opportunity isawesome.”

If you would like more information on the different markets or events that Tampa Bay Markets hosts, you can visit

their Facebook page atwwwwww..ffaacceebbooookk..ccoomm//TTaammppaaBBaayyMMaarrkkeettss.

If you would like to become a vendor at oneof their markets, you can visit them on theweb at wwwwww..TTaammppaaBBaayyMMaarrkkeettss..ccoomm. The Carrollwood Cultural Center is

located at 4537 Lowell Rd. in Tampa.

Market WatchTHE NORTH TAMPA MARKET

By Libby Hopkins

The North Tampa Market is held year-round on the second Saturday of every month, rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The market is located at the Carrollwood Cultural Center in Tampa.


The popular observation that fish aremerely instinct driven has givenway to new theories. Scientists now

believe they possess compound mental andcognitive abilities with the capacity toremember. This ability to rememberindicates the mental capacity for memory.

Worldwide, scientist doing studies inaquaculture concerning fish behavior arefinding them capable of pursuingMachiavellian strategies of manipulation,punishment, and understanding, whileexhibiting stable communal traditions.The many species that cooperate in recog-nizing predators and catching food is agood example.

For fish to learn requires retaining anexperience, object, event or information.To retain something necessitates the use of“short-term and long term memory.”Without getting into scientific rhetoric,short-term memory stores limited amountsof information for limited periods, rough-ly 15-30 seconds. This contrasted to long-term memory, where an unlimited amountof information is stored indefinitely andrecalled from 30 seconds to decades later.Memory also involves and improves withpractice, indicating the presence of:

1. Procedural (skill based) or how todo things, forage and catch food.

2. Episodic (episodes) or objects, eventsand good or near fatal experiences.For example, fish quickly retainexperiences with predators.

3. Spatial (navigate) learn to map andrecognize bottom contours as theymove about using the same routesfrom deep to shallow water and back.

4. Habituation (getting used to)repeatedly hooked on a certain lureor bait adequately reinforcesthis process.

Had the scientist consulted with any agedor seasoned angler they might have short-ened the study considerably. Most long-time anglers would gladly explain that fishmust have memories, how else could theydifferentiate between sounds, colors,navigate territorial waters, know whatfood is, and what’s a predator. Guess ittakes someone with a PhD/Doctorate orother scientific title to explain it, before itcan be accepted as fact.

Anglers, especially avid ones, understandpsychological reasoning leads to under-standing. In other words, the behavioralcharacteristics of fish, how they behave atcertain times to certain colors, noise, flash,and water depth, involves a learningprocess. To further what many old-timefishermen have known for years, studiesbeing done in aquaculture offer substanti-ated proof that fish do react to colors,noise and stimuli indicating the presence ofmemory.

Which brings us to the question, artificiallures or baits? Those who fish with regu-larity appreciate that this question is noteasy to answer. Various reasons indicatefish interpret baits or lures as either foodor predator, food if previously eaten andpredator if hooked. They may also getused to seeing it, which decreases its effec-tiveness. Psychologists refer to this ashabituation (requiring memory) or gettingused to something.

Understandably, we know fish repeatedlyeat and are hooked on the same lures andbaits. However, this does not indicate aloss of memory. It can however, indicate astronger urge to protect its territory or thebasic instinct associating hunger withfood. Territoriality cases in point would bethat of a bedding largemouth bass.Tournament bass anglers often spendhours trying to hook a female bass guard-ing its bed. Time after time, she removesthe lure before finally eating it, probablymore through frustration rather thanhunger. How about that monster snook,hooked many times previously, heads forthe mangroves or dock pilings remember-ing this survival technique means freedom.

Consistently, successful anglers andhunters understand that members of ouranimal world use their senses starting frombirth to gather information in relation totheir world. However, without a memoryall would be useless. The fact that they dohave memories relates to the principalgoals of species survival and becomes andimportant tool in the evolutionary process.

by Captain Woody Gore

Bridget with a huge Spanish mackerel caughtwhile fishing Tampa Bay with Captain Woody

Gore; the mackerel bite was off the wallthat morning – seems like we caught a fish

on every cast.


Usually taken for granted, when givensome thought, we soon realize thesemarvelous creatures are actually fairlyintelligent, often beyond our comprehen-sion. So, treat them with the respect theydeserve and remember that lifetime trophyyou just landed did not get that big by“Being Stupid” it just made an error injudgment.

““LLEETT’’SS GGOO FFIISSHHIINNGG””TTAAMMPPAA BBAAYY FFIISSHHIINNGG RREEPPOORRTT -- JJUUNNEE 22001133Tampa Bay offers excellent angling forover 200 species of fish. Tampa Bay startsat the extreme north end and goes all theway down to the Skyway Bridge. Pick agood day with a respectable incoming oroutgoing tide and catch fish. Many placesare fishable from land for shore anglers oraccessible to those who like to wade. Forthose with boats or Kayaks there are manypublic and private boat ramps locatedthroughout the bay area.

The big mackerel have moved into the bayand it sure makes for an exciting “fun-fish-ing” trip for the kids.

SSNNOOOOKK ((SSTTIILLLL CCLLOOSSEEDD SSEEAASSOONN))The Tampa Bay snook bite’s been excellentaround the mangroves on high water andon the grass flats early in the morning.Greenbacks, shrimp, cut pinfish and cutladyfish, or you can try your hand atsomething new and catch some on artifi-cial lures, especially topwater’s early in theAM. They are still out of season, so putthem back.

RREEDDFFIISSHH Redfish are popping up all overthe Bay and pushing in as the tide climbs.There is no shortage of large mulletschools and Redfish aren’t far behind.Green backs, small pinfish, shrimp, cutbait and for those that like pitching softplastics and topwater’s around the man-groves, you can expect some great actionon high incoming tides. If you’re lucky tofind a school moving around a shoreline,setup and wait. They will move back andforth when feeding. Chasing them onlycauses them to scatter.

SSPPOOTTTTEEDD SSEEAA TTRROOUUTT:: The Fort Desoto areais finally seeing a return of really largespotted sea trout, many over 20 inches.Also the southeast shore and the south endof Tampa Bay are reporting good catcheson incoming or outgoing tides. As always,live free-lined greenbacks or shrimp arethe best baits for Trout and I’ve had goodsuccess catching them on cut bait whenfishing for redfish. Or suspend eitherunder Paradise Popper cork with a medi-um split-shot about 8” about a 2/0 circlehook then find any good grass flat and youshould catch all the trout you want thismonth. Using topwater popping plugs orsoft plastic jerk baits and fishing brokenbottom grass flats, especially the grassypotholes, can offer artificial anglers someexciting action.

MMAACCKKEERREELL

Mackerel are showing up all over theBay. Find a school of Threadfins, startchumming and hold on. I’ve been catchingthem up to 3 and 4 pounds using longshank 2/0 hooks and 50 pound SeaguarFluorocarbon 60# leader. Try a poppingcork and split shot like you would forTrout. It works well when the Threadfinsare really thick.

CCOOBBIIAA

I’ve been seeing a few Cobias around theBay. Most are cruising markers or follow-ing large rays or manatees around theflats.

TTAARRPPOONN are at the Skyway. Grab a fewThreadfins for large Greenbacks on a slowin or out tide, anchor and chum by cuttingsome bait into pieces.

“Give Me a Call & Let’s Go Fishing” –813-477-3814 Captain Woody Gore is thearea’s top outdoor fishing guide. Guidingand fishing the Tampa, Clearwater, St.Petersburg, Tarpon Springs, Bradenton,and Sarasota areas for over fifty years; heoffers world class fishing adventures and alifetime of memories.

Single or Multi-boat Group Charters areall the same. With years of organizationalexperience and access to the areas most

experienced captains, Woody can arrangeand coordinate any outing or

tournament. Just tell him what you need and it’s done. Visit his website at:

WWWWWW..CCAAPPTTAAIINNWWOOOODDYYGGOORREE..CCOOMM,send an email to wwggoorree@@iixx..nneettccoomm..ccoomm

or give him a call at 813-477-3814.Fishing with Captain Woody Gore, here is one of several nice redfish caught by

Brian Anderson – fishing cut bait and live greenbacks on a shallow grass flat in

middle Tampa Bay.


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Have you ever thought about all the fads that you havegone through during your lifetime? A fad is any form ofbehavior that develops among a large population and is

collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period, generallyas a result of the behavior’s being perceived as novel in some way.A fad is said to “catch on” when the number of people adoptingit begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fadequickly once the perception of novelty is gone. Now you know thedefinition of a fad, let’s take a look at a few of them.

Some of the biggest fads were the hula hoop, pea shooter, bell bot-toms, platform shoes, parachute pants like MC Hammer wore,and wearing overalls with one strap hanging down.

Before our time, flagpole sitting was the rage. In 1924, aHollywood stuntman, Alvin Kelly, sat on a flagpole for 13 hours.Five years later he broke the world’s record, and sat on a flagpole

for 49 days. The depression followed andput an end to flagpole sitting.

In 1939, Harvard freshman LithropWithington, Jr., swallowed a goldfish for a$10.00 bet. This set off a rash of goldfishswallowing. The current world record, 300fish in one sitting, was set in 1974.

Even today the “Smiley Face” is still popular, although it wascreated in 1963 as part of an insurance company campaign toimprove employee morale following a merger with anothercompany. It means, “Have a nice day.”

When I was in my teens the Mexican jumping bean was the craze.Joaquin Hernandez jumped on the craze and made millions. Thebeans are actually moth larvae trapped inside the seedpod, butthey fascinated the masses. Hernandez has been known to sell asmany as 20 million of them, employing as many as 50 people tocollect, package and export the BEANS.

Remember “Telephone-Booth” stuffing? In 1959, twenty-fiveSouth African students climbed into a telephone booth to set anew world record for what was, at this time, a non-existent event.

This caught on big time. Students inEngland, the U.S., and Canada immediate-ly went to work developing methods tosqueeze more people in a phone booth.

Last year, Takeru Kobayashi polished off arecord 337 chicken wings in 30 minutes tobe crowned champion of Wing Bowl 20 inPhiladelphia just prior to the Super Bowl.Over the years this has been a fad thatcomes and goes. The 128-poundKobayashi, a six-time hot dog eatingchampion, was competing in his first WingBowl. The 33-year-old attended the eventin 2011 as a spectator, taking time toimpress the crowd by eating a cheese steaksandwich in 24 seconds.

A few years back there was a “no soap” fad, where people wouldshower and never use soap. The world’s record is held by“Stinky” from LA, (lower Alabama) who did not use soap of anykind for 18 months.

Some of you old timers might remember these fads - TV Dinners,Drive-In Theatres, Smiley Face Stickers, Pet Rocks, Fondue Potsand Peace Bandanas. Remember when you guys would fill up thetrunk with your friends and pay the price of two and go to thePlant City Drive In Theatre on 39 south of Plant City?

I know some of the University of Florida male graduates readingthis article participated in the “Panty Raid” fad of the 50s.

Some of my classmates with crew cuts at Plant City High Schooldropped many nickels in the jukebox at the Plant City Drive Inwhile getting curb service in their ’56 Chevy all decked out withfins and a lot of chrome.

The CB radio fad of the 70s hung around a long time. A lot ofnew lingo came about from it like “Ten-Four Good Buddy” and“Breaker, Breaker”!

The one less remembered fad was the hate of the metric system. In1975 the U.S. federal government adopted it as the nation’s pre-ferred measurement system. The moment of success was short-lived. Late in the 70s, metric hating became a national pastime.Everybody was confused and rejected the system hands down.Businessmen were concerned about the cost of replacing machin-ery and tools, while conspiracy theorists feared metric road signswould kick off a Russian invasion. It got so bad that PresidentRonald Reagan stopped the conversion program as part of his1982 budget cutbacks. About the only thing still using the metricsystem are the 2-liter soft drink bottles. Do you know how manyounces are in a two-liter bottle? Of course not! Look at the label.

In the 70s everybody was on the lookout for UFO’s and Big Foot.The only flying saucer I’ve ever seen was the one thrown at mewhen my sister, Betty, threw one at me for putting salt in her tea.As far as Big Foot is concerned, I saw a lot of them when I workedon Saturday’s at Methvin’s Shoe Store across from McCrory’s indowntown Plant City.

The only person I ever remember wearing a “Zoot Suit” wasHilman Bowden at the Senior Prom. For those who do not knowwhat a “Zoot Suit” looks like let me describe one as best I canremember. It didn’t look like anything you’d wear to work. It hadbroad shoulders, a taped waist, and baggy pats that ended in realcool, pegged cuffs. The depression poverty, World War II, andmoms disapproving look put an end to the“Zoot Suit.”

Other fads you might remember are moodrings, lava lamps and the Cabbage PatchKids.

Until next month, I hope you live to be 105,and the last person you speak to is me. •



It began in 2001 as the result of a need identified by Jon Goff,a then senior at Tampa Bay Tech. He was troubled by the factthat Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students, though

FFA members, were unable to participate in competitions due totheir disabilities.

To meet that need, the Ag-Abilities program was developed andGoff later won the H. O. Sargent Award from the national FFAfor his work on the development and implementation of theprogram. That honor recognizes programs that help FFAmembers achieve success and leadership in agriculture.

The program kicked off in 2001, took a two year hiatus due tolocation requirements and resumed in 2003. “It has been goingstrong ever since,” said Hillsborough County Farm BureauExecutive Director Judi Whitson. Farm Bureau has been a primemover, supporting Ag-Abilities along with FFA, the Florida StateFair Authority, Hydro Harvest Farms, the Ambassadors of theFlorida Strawberry Growers Association and the Young Sprouts4-H Club.

In May, ESE students, some who are also FFA members,traveled to the Florida State Fair Grounds for the 2013Ag-Abilities competition. They came from Riverview, Lavoy andMiddleton High schools, Caminiti Exceptional Center, as well as

Turkey Creek Middle School. Transportation was provided bysome of the supporting ag organizations. Some 117 studentsparticipated in the half-day of competition, which includedlunch, fittingly featuring strawberry shortcake for dessertcourtesy of John Lawson of Hydro Harvest Farms. The FloridaState Fair provides the competition’s venue and the ribbonsgiven to each participant.

The Ag-Abilities program is both educational and competi-tive. “Students are taught how to drive a tractor, plant identifi-cation, animal breeds, beef, dairy, poultry, sheep and swine,”said Whitson. “They also learn about fruits and vegetables andhow and where they grow. Each segment of the program has acompetitive component, as well.” Though students enthusiasti-cally participate in all aspects of Ag-Abilities, the tractor drivingsession is the most popular by far, given the responses and “highfives” it draws from male and female drivers alike.

“It’s wonderful to see the enjoyment and excitement thesestudents have for the program,” said Whitson. “By the sametoken, it is especially gratifying that so many agricultural organ-izations have stepped up to support this program. Farm Bureauboard members served as tractor driving instructors and driver-mentors, while the FSGA Ambassadors and Young Sproutstaught and tested the students. All of the volunteers helped toserve lunch and dessert to the students. In total, there were 24volunteers “and we could not put on the program without theirhelp,” said Whitson.

For the Ag-Abilities participants, the event is very special. “Ourstudents start talking about this competition the very first dayof school each year. They are so proud of the knowledge theyhave learned, that their self-esteem is greatly increased andshines through in these types of activities,” said DedeCocchiola, an ESE teacher from Caminiti.

Faith Oden, a 10th grade student at Caminiti stated that shereally enjoys being able to plant flowers that she can later takehome and replant to watch grow.

“We have been participating for the past 10 years, some ofour students have done it four or five times, and they are stillexcited and thrilled to do it all over again. They look forwardto this day from the beginning of the school year,” said Juan“Mr. G” Guevara, agriculture teacher at Caminiti.

Thanks to the agriculture groups that support Ag-Abilities andto the many volunteers who help make this program possible. •

AG Groups Unite inSupport of AG-AbilitiesBy Jim Frankowiak



Farm Credit of Central Florida’s Board of Directors has declareda patronage refund exceeding $2.4 million, allowing its eligibleMember-Borrowers to significantly lower their cost of funds.

“The patronage refund is a form of profit sharing distinguishing FarmCredit from other lenders,“ said Chairman of the Board, David J.Stanford, a Winter Garden citrus grower.

Farm Credit of Central Florida is a Customer-Owned lender providingfunds to agricultural operations, and residential Customers for financ-ing, new construction, or refinancing. The cooperative also offers cropinsurance to area farmers and ranchers. Part of the nationwide FarmCredit System created in 1916, Farm Credit of Central Florida serves13 central Florida counties including, Orange, Osceola, Lake, Sumter,Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Polk, Hillsborough, Citrus, Hernando,Pasco and Pinellas.

As a cooperative, Farm Credit of Central Florida Member-Borrowersshare in the association’s profits, lowering their effective rate of funds.Since 1988, Farm Credit of Central Florida Members have benefittedfrom over $141,000,000 of patronage refunds, or profit sharing,declared by the Board of Directors.

Farm Credit of Central Florida services 2,100 loans and approximate-ly $850 million in outstanding loan volume. Eligible Members willshare in profits of more than $2.4 million with a return of 60% in cashof their earned interest from 2012. This is tangible evidence of thepower of cooperative principles at work,” said, Reginald T. Holt,President and CEO of the association.

“Agriculture is the second largest industry in the state, ranking behindonly tourism. Ranchers, growers, and farmers provide green space,and water recharge areas to the state in the normal course of produc-ing the world’s safest, most affordable, and abundant supply of foodand fiber. Farm Credit of Central Florida is proud to provide a stable,reliable, source of credit to Florida agriculture,” said David J.Stanford. •

Farm Credit of Central FloridaMembers Share in PatronageRefund Exceeding $2.4 MillionPhoto by Ron O’Connor – Farm Credit

VEGETABLESFoodhooks........................$22

Baby Butter Beans ...........$15

Green Beans......................$14

Pole Beans ........................$14

Speckled Butter Beans ...$14

Blackeye Peas...................$14

Butter Peas .......................$14

Crowder Peas ...................$14

Pinkeye Peas.....................$14

Sugar Snap Peas ..............$15

Zipper Peas.......................$14

Green Peas........................$14

White Corn........................$14

Yellow Corn.......................$14

Cream White Corn 4# ......$6

Cream Yellow Corn 4#......$6

Collard Greens..................$13

Mustard Greens ................$13

Turnip Greens ...................$13

Spinach ..............................$13

Cut Okra ............................$13

Breaded Okra....................$13

Whole Okra .......................$13

Sliced Yellow Squash.......$13

Sliced Zucchini .................$13

Brussel Sprouts ................$14

Baby Carrots.....................$14

Broccoli .............................$14

Cauliflower........................$14

Mixed Vegetables ............$14

Soup Blend .......................$14

FRUITSBlueberries 5# ..................$15

Blackberries 5# ................$15

Raspberries 5# .................$15

Dark Sweet Cherries 5# ..$18

Mango Chunks 5# ............$15

Pineapple Chunks 5#.......$15

Whole Strawberries 5# ...$15

Peaches..............................$15

Rhubarb #5 .......................$15

GEORGIA PECANS(Frozen)

Halves and Pieces

1 lb bag................................$9

2.5 lb bag ....................$22.25

5 lb bag ............................$44

10 lb bag...........................$87

*** All Items Are 8 lbs. Unless Otherwise Noted.***Farm Credit of Central Florida Directors, John Langford, of Lakeland andRon Wetherington (Right) of Dover display an oversized check depicting the

$141,000,000 million in patronage refunds the board of directors hasdeclared since 1988, significantly lowering its Membersʼ cost of funds.


Dry CreekDry Creek

There’s a pride inside each of us that says I need to mow thelawn, or the pride of building a fence straight. Meaning youmight have had to dig around a big rock in the path of a fence

post to keep your fence line straight.

Most of you have pride built into you for your hometown. Fueled bymemories of things that shaped our lives. That favorite teacher thatspent time with you until you understood. That coach who believed inyou and wouldn’t give up. That friend who was so much a part of yourlife. When needed, they where always there. After years apart whenev-er you got back together, your friendship picked up where it left off.

It’s funny how when you go back to your hometown after you’vegrown up, everything seems smaller. How you have to go to yourfavorite place that has that sandwich or food that says, I’m home.

I’m from a small town but last year I visited New York City for thefirst time. I saw and felt the heart of that big City. I saw the pride andsupport they had for one another. How proud they where to help thissmall town country boy get around.

During the Boston Bombings I watched as the bad guy was caught.How rows and rows of Bostonians cheered their first responders asthey drove past them, after a job well done.

That’s the same pride and love for a town you see when a tornado orhurricane splinters it. It might take a building but leaves the heart.That town comes together and rebuilds stronger than ever.

When it comes right down to it, it’s not the concrete or steel or woodthat makes a town. It’s the people. That’s where the heart is. Be yourhometown big or small it doesn’t matter.

Today as I set down to put some of my thoughts together for a newepisode of Dry Creek about My Little Town, everything pointed to onething. The heart of a place. Where’s the engine that is powering it? It’s thepeople. No ifs, ands or butts. I hope that My Little Town of Dry Creekcan be a small model so folks can focus in on their own Hometowns bigor small. Remind them of where they came from. Through Dry Creekstown-folks and neighbors see someone they recognize.

My Little Town of Dry Creek is easy to find because “It’s inside eachand everyone of us.”

Watch Dry Creek on BlueHighwaysTV, Channel 246 on Verizon Sat nites at 7:30.Go to DDrryyCCrreeeekkTTVV..CCoomm for more information. Check us out at ddrryyccrreeeekkttvv..ccoomm

My Little TownBy Les McDowellPhoto Courtesy of Linda Constant


IINNTTHHEEFFIIEELLDD MMAAGGAAZZIINNEE MMAAYY 22001133 2299WW WW WW.. IINN TTHH EE FF II EE LL DD MM AAGG AA ZZ II NN EE ..CC OO MM


When it comes to natural disasters, Florida –with hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes,wildfires and flooding – certainly has more

than its share.And a University of Florida storm-preparation expert says that’sgood reason for Floridians to spend a bit of time planning for suchemergencies.

Mike Spranger, a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciencesprofessor in family, youth and community sciences, worked withcolleagues in Florida to adapt a Gulf of Mexico states-oriented hand-book for Floridians. Called the “Florida Homeowners Handbook toPrepare for Natural Hazards,” it’s free and available online athhttttpp::// // ssoolluuttiioonnssffoorroouurrlliiffee..uuffll..eedduu//ddiissaasstteerr__pprreepp// .

At a minimum, Spranger says, Florida residents ought to have a stormsupply of three days’ worth of nonperishable food and a five-daywater supply (one gallon per person per day). An even better goal, hesuggests: a five- to seven-day supply of nonperishable food and aseven-day water supply of three gallons per person per day, whichallows enough water for hand-washing, cooking and other needs.

“The very most important things people want after storms are waterand ice, and that’s the very first thing that’s going to be in shortsupply,” Spranger said.

Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30, but the 140-pagehandbook reminds readers that hurricanes and tropical storms canand do form before and after the confines of hurricane season.

The handbook has tons of tips and suggestions for Floridians, cover-ing details such as keeping spare cash handy in case ATMs aren’tworking, hanging on to at least one hardwire telephone in case cellu-lar service goes out, keeping your gas tank full, and specific ways toshore up your windows, doors and garage doors (fun fact: about 80percent of wind damage to homes starts with wind entering thegarage).

Also included are reminders to have a plan for pets since mostemergency shelters won’t accept them, keep prescriptions filled andcopies of them in a waterproof box or folder, along with one’s otherimportant documents such as birth records, insurance policies, anddescriptions and photos of home valuables, as well as suggestions forstoring sentimental items like family photos, digitally, in case a homecomputer or other electronic gadgets are destroyed.

There are also suggestions for optional storm-related products onemight buy, including roof clips and other home improvements, as wellas items such as a portable toilet, a weather radio and a generator.

“Even if you get this handbook and only implement a few of the ideas,you’ll be ahead of most people,” Spranger said. “These are allrelatively easy things that don’t cost you anything, except time.” •

By Mickie Anderson

UF/IFAS Storm-preparationExpert Tailors Planning Guide For Floridians

After 40 Years of Teaching –Carolyn Pease Retires

For the past 40 years Carolyn Pease has been teaching at RobinsonElementary School in Turkey Creek.She was recognized several times asthe school’s “Teacher of the Year.”

A special retirement party was heldthe Strawberry Festival Expo Hall onFriday, June 7. The picture shown isCarolyn with many of the studentsshe taught over the years.


The rose apple is a tropical fruit grownexclusively in southern Florida and isharvested in June and July. Shaped

like a bell or a pear, the rose apple is not anapple, but actually a berry. This fruit variesin color from red, pink, or white to purple orpale green. The flavor is descried as mostsimilar to a snow pear or a cross betweenapple and watermelon. Because of its highwater concentration, the wax apple is veryjuicy and its flavor is mildly sweet with aflowery fragrance and crisp texture.

This fruit is a member of the Myrtaceae fam-ily, which includes guava. Other names forthis beautiful fruit include wax jambu, javaapple, love apple, wax apple, cloud apple,water apple, bell fruit, plum rose, Malabarplum, makopa, and chomphu. The skin isedible, while the seeds in the hollow cavityare not.

NUTRITIONAL PROFILEAccording to the United States Departmentof Agriculture (USDA) National NutrientDatabase for Standard Reference, one medi-um wax jambu (100 g) contains 25 calories,0.6 g of protein, 0.3 g of fat, 5.7 g of carbo-hydrate, and 0.5 g of fiber. It also provides37% of the Daily Recommended Value(% DV) for Vitamin C, 7% for Vitamin A,4% for potassium and niacin, 3% for calci-um, and 2% for riboflavin. Rose apples alsocontain notable amounts of phosphorus,magnesium, thiamin, copper, and manganese.

ANTIOXIDANTSFlorida rose apples are bursting with vitaminsA and C, disease-fighting antioxidants, whichneutralize destructive free radicals in the body.When healthy cells are damaged they are moresusceptible to disease and certain types of can-cer, and antioxidants may help slow the pro-gression of conditions like asthma, arthritis,and colon cancer. Diets that contain fruits highin antioxidants, including rose apples andother fruits and vegetables, are linked to areduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and mul-tiple types of cancer.

VITAMIN CRose apples are a good source of vitamin C,an antioxidant which has many importantfunctions in the body. Eating foods high invitamin C significantly raises the amount ofiron your body absorbs, which is a good wayto prevent anemia. Vitamin C also supportsthe body’s immune system in its ability tofight infections and viruses, and may possi-bly shorten the duration and intensity of acold. Additionally, this vitamin is involved inkeeping capillaries, gums, and skin healthyand supple.

NIACINNiacin, which is also called nicotinic acid orvitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin thatplays a variety of important roles in thebody. Niacin may be best known as a “nat-ural” supplement to treat high cholesterol,and has been shown to decrease triglyceridesand LDL cholesterol (the bad type). Alongwith the other B vitamins, niacin, helps thebody convert carbohydrates, protein, andfats from food into usable energy for thebody. The B vitamins are necessary to main-tain the health of the nervous system, liver,and skin. Additionally, this vitamin is neededin the production of hormones. Researchstudies have shown that people with a highniacin intake from food may have adecreased risk of atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’sdisease, and cataracts.

HOW TO SELECT AND STORESelect rose apples that feel firm and are freeof bruises or broken skin. Handle gentlybecause they bruise easily. Since rose applesare delicate, they are best eaten as soon asthey are harvested. They can be stored in therefrigerator for up to several days. Rinseunder cool running water before eating orpreparing. Select rose apples that feel firmand are free of bruises or broken skin.Handle gently because they bruise easily.Since rose apples are delicate, they are besteaten as soon as they are harvested. They can

be stored in the refrigerator for up to severaldays. Rinse under cool running water beforeeating or preparing.

HOW TO ENJOYRose apples are delicious eaten out of hand,or made into jellies, jam, preserves, orsauces. Other ways to enjoy this tropicalfruit are:

• Stew with sugar or poach in sugar waterfor a simple dessert

• Slice and add to fruit salad or platter

• Boil to make a sauce to flavor water orother beverages or to spoon over yogurtor ice cream

• Chop and add to cereal or yogurt

• Boil to make fig jam

• Use in pies, crisps, or other desserts

Enjoy this uniquely beautiful, juicy fruitduring Florida’s peak season today.

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By Sandy Kaster, M.S. Clinical Medicine,B.S. Nutrition Science


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More than 80 vegetable growers, scouts, crop advisors,Extension faculty, Master Gardeners and other crop pro-tection professionals recently gathered at the Gulf Coast

Research and Education Center (GCREC) for a daylong workshopkeyed to vegetable crop health management.

“The purpose of the workshop was to provide training in the identi-fication of key arthropod, disease and weed pests of Florida horticul-tural crops,” said Dr. Hugh Smith, vegetable entomologist and one ofthe workshop organizers. “The session also provided guidance in thediagnosis of nutritional and other horticultural disorders through avariety of techniques including hands-on training with live specimensin the field and laboratory.” Attendees were also given informationon managing crop health problems and available resources throughthe University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

In addition to Dr. Smith, the workshop faculty included Dr. GaryVallad, plant pathologist, Dr. Bielinski Santos, horticulturist, Dr.Nathan Boyd, weed scientist, Manatee County Extension AgentCrystal Snodgrass and Mary Beth Henry with Pinellas CountyExtension. Bayer CropScience sponsored the meeting and luncheonfor attendees.

Following a pre-workshop test for participants, which was repeatedat the end of the workshop, Dr. Smith led a session designed to helpattendees develop a pest management program for their crops. It wasentitled Identification of Pest and Beneficial Arthropods. He notedthe importance of determining life cycle, damage and host range, aswell as scouting crops on a recommended twice weekly basis. Dr.Smith then reviewed a variety of common parasites and parasistoids,as well as tips on how to recognize characteristics of each.

Scouting and Recognizing Vegetable Diseases was presented by Dr.Vallad and he began by differentiating between diseases and disorderswith diseases caused by pathogens and disorders that are the result ofnutrients, temperature, genetics and other non-pathogens. He wenton to describe the need to determine the symptoms and signs of

vegetable diseases, noting a symp-tom is any abnormal feature where-as a sign is evidence of apathogen. Samples of all wereshown and they included some ofthe more common diseases inFlorida such as bacterial spot oftomato and pepper, downy mildewof cucurbits, gummy stem blight of

cucurbits, Fusarium wilt, southern blight and various viruses,especially those associated with whitefly vectors.

Dr. Santos detailed the Basics of Crop Nutrient and WaterManagement, noting the critical need to consider the basic principlesof proper watering: soil type, volume of evapotranspiration (the max-imum amount of water a crop needs to grow), timing and methodsof application. He described the types of irrigation systems in usein Florida, monitoring equipment and the essentials of plantnutrients. Those essentials include the rate and timing of application,placement and sources. To build a program, he said, you must con-sider irrigation, cultural practices, regulations, soil and crop type, aswell as economics. He advised attendees to avoid misdiagnosis ofcrop problems through periodic lab analysis and when in doubt to“consult a specialist.”

Dr. Boyd reviewed the key weeds of Florida vegetable crops, suggest-ing that identification of the family of weeds as being an easierapproach than trying to determine the specific specie. Many of theweeds were available for viewing by workshop participants.

Following lunch, the group proceeded into the field to scout anddiagnose crop health problems discussed during the morning sessionsamong various crops on site. The next part of the workshop wasdevoted to a review of on-line and print resources for pest, disease,weed and nutrient management. Dr. Vallad then led a discussion of“How to Get the Most from your Plant Diagnostic Clinics” thatincluded critical diagnostic do’s and don’ts from how and when togather samples to size and shipment. He reminded attendees thatUF/IFAS operates four disease clinics across Florida and each offersanalysis and diagnostic services related to specific crops.

Discussion and information was then shared on using a microscopeand hand lens to diagnose crop health problems and all participantswere given a hand lens. •

GULF COAST RESEARCH CENTERHOLDS WORKSHOP FOR

Vegetable CropPROTECTION PROFESSIONALSBy Jim Frankowiak


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Though Bankers South Lending & Financing may be new to theag industry, they have a lot of experience in the lending world.Bankers South, based in Lakeland, is the lending arm of

parent company Land South, founded in 2002 by Brian Philpot andRob Harper. Bankers South provides a variety of loan products,including conventional agricultural real estate loans through theAgAmerica Lending program.

Over the past year, AgAmerica Lending has been growing steadily.AgAmerica loans cover all facets of farming, from smaller blueberryfarmers, to vast cattle ranches. The folks at Bankers South know andunderstand the issues of needing capital to grow in the ag world.With over 200 years of combined agricultural backgrounds andexperience, they know what it takes to make it in the agriculturalindustry. Growing up in DeSoto County, Dale Johnson, Senior VicePresident at Bankers South, is a sixth generation Floridian. He hasbeen a certified public accountant for the last 21 years and his focushas been in the origination of agricultural loans and agribusinessconsulting. Johnson also spent eight years as the Controller for alarge 9,000+-acre row crop operation in Southwest Florida. With allof his experience in the agricultural industry, Dale has gained aninsight into the financial needs of farmers and ranchers.

Mostly lending on land, since not many banks were willing to,Bankers South’s asset-based, “bridge” loan program has grown overthe past few years.

By listening to their friends, the owners of Bankers South realizedthere was a need for low interest loans in the agricultural communi-ty. Long term customers of theirs were repeatedly coming to themhaving problems finding or continuing their agricultural funding.After the financial crisis of 2008, traditional ag lenders and localbanks were stuck with non-performing loans leading them to notrenew current loans on their balance sheets, downgrade their portfo-lio size and have stricter lending regulations. This, in turn, forcedhigher interest rates and longer loan processes.

Due to their agricultural and financing backgrounds, the folks atBankers South understand that a typical ag borrower’s assets are notvery liquid and their cash flow may not always be steady. Because ofthis they offer flexible payment options: annual, semi-annual ormonthly. Another way Bankers South helps farmers and ranchers isby offering a Line of Credit that has no “resting period” for ten years.A resting period is where a bank will require a borrower to pay backall funds for a short period, usually thirty days, once a year. No rest-ing period allows the farmer to keep the money in the commodity,where it is needed, for the entire ten years with only one upfrontapproval. Unlike some banks, Bankers South has no prepaymentpenalty, that means you will not be charged a fee if you repay the loanearly. Whether the loan for a small farm, a cattle ranch or a citrusgrove, Bankers South is glad to help farmers and ranchers continue togrow their business by offering great terms and low interest rates.

"While we lend all over the U.S., we are especially excited to help ourneighbors in Central Florida get the lending they need to grow theirbusinesses,” said Philpot.

“We may be the new Ag lender in town, but our clients are alreadysharing about the ways we have saved them money on their invest-ment projects,” said Leigh Ann Wynn, Director of Marketing andBusiness Development for Bankers South. “Cattlemen are shockedwhen they hear how low our rates are and that we can offer terms aslong as 25 years.”

While the American dream may include a house with a picket fencefor some, for others it has a wider vista, including acres of grasspastures, rows of crops or timber. •

Contact Bankers South today to see if these loans are the rightchoice for your ag operation by calling 855-898-BANK (2265)

or email: [email protected].

Bankers SouthIS THE NEW AG LENDER IN TOWN


Dan Inglima, Everglades Farm Equipment Plant City SiteManager and John Deere Equipment specialist, andHaley Smith, Durant High School Senior. Haley recent-

ly won the $2000 FFA Scholarship sponsored by John Deere/Everglades Farm Equipment. Haley plans to attend theUniversity of FL to major in Ag Economics. Since 1963Everglades has been looking ahead… We know that the futureis in our children.

“The Agricultural business has been tremendously rewardingfor our family,” said Mike Schlechter, Everglades Farm

EvergladesScholarshipEquipment Chief Operating Office and owner. “Our familystill owns and operates our working farm, we know that edu-cation and passion go hand in hand and we are always readyto help the future grow strong” •




Well my fellow gardeners, springfever is moving into summer’ssweltering embrace. We’re already

hitting 90-plus degree days with higher tem-peratures in sight. You’ve planted all yoursummer annuals and launched your veg-etable gardens which are steadfastly growingtoward the pinnacle of edible bounty.

It’s time to think about a plant that can giveyou a multitude of rewards during these hotsummer months. Basil or Ocimum basilicumis a true joy to grow in the summer. Asidefrom its numerous culinary uses, it soaks upthe summer sun like a parched kid on theplayground slurps up Gatorade©. Akin to themint family, Lamiaceae, basil is an annualwith slightly square stems, strong scents, abushy growth habit and tiny dark seeds.I implore you to grow it.

Native to Africa, India and Asia, historyfeatures Basil as a remedy for digestive tractissues, as a token sign of romantic interestwhen positioned on windowsills and as asacred herb leading the dearly departedsafely to paradise.

Modern-day growers should simply appreci-ate basil for its earthy but sweet scents, itsdepth of mild but peppery flavor and itsbeautifully stacked purple-tinged, pink orwhite blooms. I would suggest you grow it asa companion plant to tomatoes and peppersin your summer vegetable garden. Pollinatorslike bees, wasps and butterflies are also veryattracted to the spikes of blooms and willaide your vegetable plants in producing more“fruit.”

Basil can be sown from seed at a depth of1/8” after the last frost (which we are wellbeyond now) where soil temperatures are75°-85°F or seedlings can be transplanted

directly into the garden with about 1’ ofspace between plants. Basil likes well-drained, rich soil so make sure you haveamended your garden soil with compostbefore planting for best results. As always inFlorida, mulch your plants for maximummoisture retention during these hot monthsand water regularly to maintain plant healthand establish good leaf production.

Basil is quick to bolt in our warm climate soif you want to maintain your plant for leafharvesting or culinary use, snip the bloomspikes as they begin forming on a regularbasis. If you want to enjoy basil for its scentand pollinator attraction in the garden, let itgo to bloom.

Growth habits range from globular mounddwarf forms to upright columnar selections.Basils offer a variety of foliage colors, leafshapes, scents, sizes and textures pleasing tothe eye and nose. They come in bright lime-green, mottled green and purple, variegatedgreen and yellow, and deep purple. Texturesabound too. Large smooth leaves, serrated-edged tiny leaves and crinkled-lettuce leavedvarieties are available to the gardener whowants to try something different.

The most common variety you will find atyour local box stores is Sweet or Italian Basil(O. basilicum). Sweet Basil is typically brightgreen, large-leaved and mild flavored.‘Summerlong’ or ‘Sweet Green’ are a coupleof the newer varieties you might want tosample.

There are small-leaved, compact varieties likeBush Basil/Spicy Globe Basil (O. basilicum‘Minimum’) or Boxwood Basil (O. basilicum‘Boxwood’) which are exceptional for use inpestos, sauces and for sprinkling over pastasor pizzas. Their compact forms are lovely in

clay pots judiciously placed around yourpatio. One of my favorite varieties to tryincludes Lemon Basil (Ocimum × citriodor-um) which has a lovely lemon scent and iswidely used in Thai, Indonesian, Arabic, Laoand Persian cuisines for such dishes as cur-ries, stews, baked fish and stir-fries.

CCIINNNNAAMMOONN BBAASSIILL (O. basilicum ‘Cinnamon’)is also known as Vietnamese Basil and con-tains the chemical cinnamate which alsogives the spice cinnamon its strong scent. Ithas beautiful deep purple bloom spikesabove dark green leaves and the clove-liketaste makes it suitable for use in hot drinksand with fruits for dessert.

Another classic basil that you must havein your garden is DDAARRKK OOPPAALL BBAASSIILL

(O. basilicum x O. forskolei). This basilshines as an accent in the garden with darkpurple color and beautiful white to pink flo-rets. Other purple colored varieties includeAfrican Blue (O. basilicum 'Dark Opal' x O.kilimandscharicum) primarily used for scentor decorative purposes such as pot pourriand Red Rubin (O. basilicum purpurascens)bred to be more disease resistant. Use thisbasil in herbal vinegars to liven up your saladdressing choices.

A more recent choice I really like is PPEESSTTOO

PPEERRPPEETTUUOO BBAASSIILL (O. x citriodorum). Thisbasil captured my eye because it is a newlydeveloped variety featuring tricolor variega-tion with creamy color along the marginaledges of the leaves. It is perfect for use inmixed plantings as an accent and it tastesgreat in pestos of course.

So now that you have a few choices.

Get growing!

By Shannon P. Mitchell – THE REDHEADED GARDENER


For John Joyner, the opportunity tojoin the Hillsborough County FarmBureau Board of Directors was akin

to coming home. Born and raised just out-side Plant City on the family farm, agricul-ture has always been a part of John’s life.“I’m a third generation farmer,” saidJoyner, who bought the family farm fromhis father in 1978. That land, plus rentedacreage – some 100-acres in total, waswhere John and his brother Gary grewstrawberries for the better part of 15years. “We carried on the family traditionof growing and marketing berries and pro-duce.”

Joyner left fulltime farming in 1991 to joinCF Industries at its Port of Tampa

Terminal and Warehouse. He became ashift supervisor in 1998 and was promotedto Superintendent of Operations in 2007.CF Industries’ storage and shipping facilitygives the company access to Gulf Coast,Corn Belt and export markets for its phos-phate fertilizer products. The facility,which last year shipped more than 1.3million tons of fertilizer, has the capacityto store approximately 100,000 tonsof diammonium phosphate (DAP) andmonoammonium phosphate (MAP). Theammonia terminal gives CF Industriesaccess to world markets for anhydrousammonia, a raw material used in the man-ufacture of ammoniated phosphate fertiliz-ers. “I am primarily responsible for over-seeing in and outbound shipments of fertil-izer and ammonia from our facilities at thePort of Tampa,” he said.

Joyner has joined the Hillsborough CountyFarm Bureau board, succeeding formerboard member Stefan Katzaras, also a CFIndustries employee, who recentlyassumed new duties at the Plant CityComplex. “When the chance came to serveon the Farm Bureau board, I jumped at theopportunity,” said Joyner. “My family haslong been involved with Farm Bureau andI have a firsthand understanding of thechallenges facing growers and how FarmBureau can help. This is a great way for meto stay tied to agriculture. In addition, myexperience with CF Industries has taughtme that our company and the growers facesimilar issues. Serving on the board willenable me to help both,” he said.

There’s a side to Joyner that some may notknow. Throughout the 1970s, from theend of his high school years well into his

20s, Joyner made his living as a fulltime,professional motocross racer. “I competedprimarily in Florida, but at other tracksthroughout the eastern region of the coun-try and some in the Midwest as well.” Heenjoyed sponsorships from bike builderssuch as Suzuki and Yamaha, as well asretail dealerships, and a level of competi-tive success. “I met my wife, Lea Ann, in1976 and we got married in 1978. Oncemarried, I thought about things other thanracing.” And that led to the purchase of hisfamily’s farm and a partnership with hisbrother that grew to 100-acres over thenext 15 years.

Family is very important to Joyner and hiswife who also is a Plant City native. “Wehave two daughters and four grandchil-dren, two boys and two girls. And I amhappy to note that they all live nearby. Infact, one of my daughters, her husbandand children live just a short distance fromus,” Joyner said. “My wife has been like arock for me and our family. She has beenthere for me in good time and hardtimes. She has kept me grounded. Mymom and dad were very influentialthroughout my life and growing up on asmall farm with four siblings taught me thevalue of family.”

Joyner’s agricultural activities are now lim-ited to approximately four-acres on whichhe grows peaches. He enjoys watchingsports and an occasional golf outing. “I amnot a very good golfer, but I do enjoy theopportunity to play with friends.”

Welcome home, John, and the best to youas you serve on the Board of Directors ofthe Hillsborough County Farm Bureau. •

Farm Bureau Highlight

John JoynerCOMES “HOME”By Jim Frankowiak

JUNE 2013 45



Each year, the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center(GCREC) recognizes employees who have gone above andbeyond their required duties to serve the mission of the

Center. “Among those actions are excellence in customer service, timeinvested in Center committee activities, other service activities thatbenefit the Center, creation of innovative techniques or equipmentfor research,” said Center Director Dr. Jack Rechcigl. “Recognitionoriginates with nominations from faculty and staff with submissionsto the Honors and Awards Committee.”

Winners for 2013 are Tomas Hasing, a bio scientist in the StrawberryBreeding Program headed by Dr. Vance Whitaker, who nominatedHasing, and Shawn Arango, a staff member of the HorticultureProgram of Dr. Bielinski Santos. Arango was nominated by SeniorAgricultural Assistant David Moore. Both were honored at amid-May luncheon at which their respective contributions were notedby the individuals who nominated them. Each received anOutstanding Award Recipient stadium jacket along with additionalUniversity of Florida items.

“Tomas has been an incredible asset to the strawberry breeding pro-gram because of his hard work and his unique skills,” saidWhitaker. “Tomas makes all of our crosses, maintains breedinggermplasm databases, oversees data collection in the field, managespicking volunteers and performs many data analyses for genetic stud-ies. He also travels to Colorado for almost three weeks each year todig runner plants on his hands and knees in very cold weather.Countless weekends he has come in to check on the mist nozzles ormake sure timers are working properly. Importantly, he does all ofthis with a quiet smile on his face and a can-do attitude.”

“Tomas is perhaps most impressive for his innovation and academicabilities, particularly in statistics,” said Whitaker. “He helpeddevelop a field data collection system with rolling cards with scalesand field computers. He came up with a method, using this datacollection system and a novel statistical approach, to assess thestability of sugars in strawberry fruit across the season. Heprogrammed an excel spreadsheet to display pedigrees for allbreeding germplasm and he developed a database system that allowsimmediate access to crossing information, pollen stores and seedsgenerated. All of this has culminated in his co-authorship of threescientific journal articles and senior authority of two other articles,

one published in Euphytica and the second recently accepted to theJournal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, all in thepast three years. This is truly amazing for a biological scientist whohas many things to do other than writing.

“In addition to his service to the strawberry breeding program,Tomas is also an asset to the Center as a whole,” Whitaker said.“I have often found him helping faculty, biological scientists orstudents with their statistical analysis. Those of us who struggle withstatistics know just how important his help is!”

Moore’s nomination of Arango cited him as being “..an outgoing,outstanding and motivated member of the Horticulture Program atGCREC. Shawn comes from a very diverse background that makeshim very well rounded. He has a very intuitive capacity to envisionand deliver on building structures, which also translates into a highability to be a problem solver! He is responsible for building multipletunnels this year from ‘scratch’. This translates to minimizing costs toBielinski Santos’ Program, while maximizing delivery of high quality,well assembled structures.”

“Shawn goes out of his way to make good on Dr. Santos’ dream ofsharing the benefits of High Tunnel Cultivation across the State ofFlorida! This means that he has worked on out-of-town ventures put-ting up the tunnels. Shawn carries all of the materials, tools and sup-plies to the site, which means he is also very organized. These tripsalso translate into being away from his family and home, living outof a motel room. Shawn makes the workplace fun. He always seemsto have a joke or story that can bring a laugh.”

“Shawn has a passion for his job. He desires to strive to do his beston any task he works on. Whether it is spraying peppers, pickingstrawberries or installing a complex manifold irrigation system –Shawn puts his heart into his work and workmanship. Finally, itneeds to be mentioned that Shawn is doing all of this while going tocollege, as well as balancing a family of four children. OurHorticulture Program benefits from his efforts and commitment,”said Moore.

Hearty congratulations to Tomas Hasting and Shawn Arango.

GULF COASTRESEARCH CENTER

HONORSEMPLOYEES

TOMAS HASING& SHAWN ARANGO

BY JIM FRANKOWIAK

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Classes

Now that we are in hurricane season,Hillsborough County Extension, acooperative service of the Board of

County Commissioners and the University ofFlorida, is offering a series of solar cookingclasses that will help prepare residents forcooking during power outages or otheremergencies. “Our classes will also enableparticipants to use the sun to cook their foodand reduce energy costs whether they havepower or not.” said Dr. Mary Keith, anExtension Agent and presenter of the classes.

“With instruction, some supplies and a littlecutting, by the end of this workshop partici-pants will have a functioning solar cooker,”said Keith. “The sun will cook a meal whilewe are working on the construction of indi-vidual solar cookers, so attendees will be ableto see and taste a solar-cooked meal beforethey leave.”

The four-hour class will also include basicrecipes and cooking instructions, as well asthe opportunity to see several commercialand homemade solar cookers in use duringthe session. “I provide registrants with a listof items needed for the class that will enablethem to build their own solar cooker,” sheadded. In addition to instruction on theproduction of a solar cooker and how to useit, the class also covers the pasteurization ofwater by using homemade and commercialunits. “This can be an important considera-tion during periods of power outages,”said Keith, who noted all of the unitsdemonstrated during the classes arereusable. “Commercial cookers range inprice from $40 to $400, while the commer-cial water pasteurization indicator displayedduring the class is less than $20."

“Generally speaking, food to be cooked in asolar cooker is prepared as if for a slow

cooker,” said Keith. “However, because foodcooks faster when it is in smaller pieces, weusually cut items to be cooked in a solarcooker into small pieces. In addition, it'shelpful to move the cooker as the sun movesso our source of power is in line with ourcooker.” Though solar cooking is bestaccomplished during sunny days, it is possi-ble to use a solar cooker successfully whenthe weather is cloudy, she noted.

Materials needed for the class include a metalpot with lid, foam cooler or boxes to holdthe pot, duct tape or package tape, heavyduty aluminum foil and a knife or boxcutter. “I recommend that participantspurchase the pot first and be certain it has alid,” said Keith. “Ideally the pot should be adark in color and should be able to fit with-in the cooler they bring to the class. If theybring boxes, one box must hold the pot andthe other must be two-inches deeper andwider all the way around than the small box.

“Although the timing of these classes coin-cides with our annual hurricane season, solarcooking has become popular around theworld for a variety of reasons,” saidKeith. “Campers and backpackers aregrowing users of solar cookers as are peoplein areas where cooking fuel is either costly orlimited in supply. There are also groups andindividuals using and promoting solarcooking as a way to reduce air pollution andto slow down the deforestation and desertifi-cation caused by gathering firewood forcooking.” Solar cooking is also often used insituations where minimal fuel consumptionis important, or the danger of accidental firesis high.

Simple solar cookers use four basic princi-ples: concentration of sunlight; conversionof light to heat; the trapping of heat and

utilization of the greenhouse effect as glasstransmit visible light, but blocks infraredthermal radiation from escaping, therebyamplifying the heat trapping effect.

Upcoming classes are set for Friday, June 28,Saturday, June 29, Friday, July 26 and Saturday,July 27. “We limit classes to 20 participantsand may expand the list of classes dependingupon interest,” said Keith.

Interested parties may register online at:HHiillllssbboorroouugghh..iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu//nnuuttrriittiioonn//SSoollaarr__CCoo

ookkeerrss..sshhttmmll. A registration fee of $10 entitles a family of four to attend.

Each class begins at 10 a.m. and ends no later than 2 p.m. All are held at theHillsborough County Extension Service,

5339 County Road 579, Seffner, FL 33584.For more information, contact Keith via

email: mmkkeeiitthh@@uuffll..eedduu or call: 813-744-5519, Extension 54136.

ASSURE WARM MEALS DURINGPOWER OUTAGES AND EMERGENCIES; REDUCE ENERGY COSTS

By Jim Frankowiak

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY EXTENSION OFFERS

Cantaloupe-with-Chicken Salad

Cantaloupe Crostini

PREPARATIONIn a large bowl, combine chicken, blueberries, celery,grapes and pecans.

In a small bowl, mix dressing ingredients.Pour over the chicken mixture and toss gently.Spoon into cantaloupe halves, then serve.

PREPARATIONPreheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut baguette into 1/2 inch-thick slicesand brush each with olive oil.

Toast bread on a baking sheet untilgolden brown.

Spread cheese ontoasted bread.

Top each with cucumber slices thendiced cantaloupe. Serve immediately.

RECIPES

50 INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE JUNE 2013

SALAD2 cups chicken cooked, shredded

2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

1 cup celery, sliced

1 cup green grapes seedless, halved

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

3 cantaloupes, halved and seeded

DRESSING1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice fresh

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest grated

1 1/2 teaspoons natural sugar

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, ground

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1/2 large French baguette

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup herbed goat cheese

1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced

3 cups cantaloupe, diced

Recipes Courtesy of the Florida Department of Agriculture

Specialty MeatsDucks, Capons, Fresh Ham,

Rabbits, Quail, Fresh &Smoked Turkey Wings

and Drumsticks, Beef andPork Kidneys, Hog Heads,

Hog Maws, Pork Skin,Tripe & Honeycomb Tripe,

and Alligator Meat.

Meet Shirley Chancy17 years - cashier at Felton’s

• We Accept TECO Payments• Western Union Money Orders

49¢ each

5511


There was a time not too many yearsago when the news coming from orabout the Hillsborough County

Supervisor of Elections Office was not thebest. However, that has all changed for thebetter thanks to the efforts of Supervisor ofElections Craig Latimer and his staff. Prior totaking office this past January, Latimerserved as Chief of Staff to the Supervisor ofElections, a position he held from January of2009 until January of this year. He wasinitially appointed by the late PhyllisBusansky and continued with Dr. EarlLennard, who was appointed to serve thebalance of Busansky’s term following herdeath. Latimer successfully ran for the officein 2012.

Born and raised in Hillsborough County,Latimer graduated from Tampa CatholicHigh School and he received an undergradu-ate degree from the University of SouthFlorida. He retired from the HillsboroughCounty Sheriff’s Office as a Major in 2008after 35 years of service. Latimer and his wifeSharon reside in the Lutz area, have one son,who is a member of the New York Yankeesmedia relations staff, and one grandson.

Latimer has led the turnaround in theelections office to restore integrity, efficiencyand confidence in the election process. Thatis no mean feat when you consider some ofthe variables he and his staff face on a year-to-year basis. He has 38 fulltime staff on acontinuing basis, but that changes dramati-cally during an election year when his full-time staff grows to as many as 200 fulltimetemporary staff. Then, 3,500 poll workersare added, as well, to meet the demands ofthe election itself. This staffing swing has animpact on his budget, which ranges from $8to $12 million. The proposed budget for2014 is set at $11.4 million.

Even though there were significant delays inthe most recent election at other countiesacross Florida, Florida Secretary of State KenDetzner singled out Hillsborough County asmeeting its election responsibilities “the wayit is supposed to be done.”

You might think a multi-million dollar budg-et is a lot of money for just elections, but itis important to recognize both the dutiesand responsibilities of the Supervisor ofElections. The office administers all federal,state, county, municipal and special districtelections in Hillsborough County in accor-dance with the Florida election code, the fed-eral Help America Vote Act (HAVA), theNational Voting Rights Act (NVRA), theUniformed and Overseas Citizens AbsenteeVoting Act (UOCAVA), the Americans withDisabilities Act (ADA) and federal votingrights laws. In addition to general adminis-trative and office functions, the duties of theelections office cover four broad categories:voter services; elections; activities on behalfof candidates, committees and parties; andvoter education.

Voter Services include processing registrationapplications and issuing voter cards, as wellas maintaining voter registration statis-tics. Voter lists must also be maintained toassure accuracy, and precinct street indexesmust be maintained to ensure residentialaddresses are assigned to the correct precinctand districts. The office must also updatestreet indexes to reflect any changes receivedfrom the U.S. Postal Service, planning boardand city and county commissions. Thoseindexes must also be updated to reflectgrowth and the proper assignment of thosenew streets to precincts and districts.

There are myriad tasks associated with elec-tions and they include the maintenance and

safeguarding of county voting equipment,the testing of that equipment and relatedprograms and ballot tabulation equipmentprior to each election, along with the design,printing and proofing of ballots pursuant toFlorida election law. The office must processrequests for and mail Vote By Mail ballotsand related elections materials to absenteevoters, including military and overseasvoters, plus receive and tally mailed ballots.Vote By Mail ballot signatures must also beverified. That brings to mind a misconcep-tion that the majority of those ballots aretypically not counted. “In the last election,less than one half of one per cent of Vote ByMail ballots were not counted,” saidLatimer, who noted the number of Vote ByMail ballots requested totaled 198,699,while the number returned or voted was171,206. “The Canvassing Board only reject-ed 596 of those ballots, most (374 ballots)because they had no signature,” he said.New legislation expected to be signed byGovernor Rick Scott will allow theSupervisor of Elections Office to contactvoters so that they may correct their mistakeif they forget to sign their ballot.

Additional duties for Latimer and his staffunder the elections category involve workingwith the county and municipalities on reap-portionment, redistricting and drawing ofprecinct boundaries, and identifying andcontracting with convenient and accessiblepolling places. “We have 347 precincts inHillsborough County that were served by276 polling sites in 2012. It is possible for usto co-locate some of those precincts withoutinconveniencing voters,” Latimer said. In allcases, the office works with disability organ-izations to ensure all polling locations com-ply with ADA accessibility guidelines.

Early voting was conducted at 15 sites acrossthe county in 2012. “And the results of thatinitiative plus Vote By Mail reflects a changein voter activities,” noted Latimer. For thatelection there were 747,605 eligible voters inthe county and the turnout equaled 545,134ballots or 72.9 percent of eligible vot-ers. “Just over 38 percent of those votes werecast on election day, while 169,654 ballotswere cast by mail and 166,937 came via earlyvoting. That is a growing change in ballotingby our voters with dramatic shifts in by mailand early voting totaling nearly 62 percent ofthe votes cast,” he said. Early voting, firstoffered in the 2004 general election, saw86,642 ballots cast with 63,863 ballotsreceived by mail. “Voters are recognizing ingrowing numbers that election day is the lastday to vote and are taking steps to cast theirballots early by mail or at designated earlyvoting centers.”

In addition, the office supervises Vote ByMail voting for assisted living facilities ornursing homes when that type of aid isrequested. It also has responsibility for pub-lishing required legal notices and documents,including sample ballots, in general circula-tion newspapers serving the county. Requirednotices must be posted in polling places onElection Day and that includes how to cast aballot. Voting equipment must be delivered,set up and retrieved at each polling loca-tion. “That equipment has a value of morethan $15 million and when not in use isstored in a county warehouse, occupyingsome 40,000 square feet of space.”

The Supervisor of Election is also responsiblefor approving poll watchers and providinglists of those individuals to polling places;counting, canvassing and certifying electionreturns; recruiting and training poll workersin election law and procedures prior to eachelection. “Our poll workers are very impor-tant and critical to the successful executionof our election responsibilities. That bringsto mind our Adopt A Precinct and Adopt ADrop Site partnerships for non-profit com-munity service organizations, agencies andother entities,” said Latimer. “Through thesepartnerships the participating organizationsagree to provide complete or partial staffingfor a precinct or drop site. In exchange, theearnings from that service go directly to theorganization.” Groups run the gamut fromBoy Scout Troops and sororities to publicservice organizations such as Wheels forSuccess, an organization that provides vehi-cles to those in need. Poll workers are paidfrom $140 to $225 per day depending upontheir responsibilities. “Boy Scout Troop 5 inPlant City participated and used the fundingearned to help pay for repairs to its troopbus,” he said. Troop 5 is chartered by theNorman McLeod American Legion Post 26.

The office is also charged with providingprospective candidates with general informa-tion; filing and qualifying candidates fornomination or election to county, district andspecial district offices; verifying and certify-ing petition signatures for candidates whoqualify by the petition process; collectingcandidate qualifying fees and remitting to theappropriate agency; providing support tomunicipalities, districts and special districtsin conduct of their elections; receiving andreviewing for completion campaign financereports and financial disclosure statements;monitoring campaign reports and assessingfines, when necessary; proofing filing formsand guidance to and receiving and reviewingfor completion financial reports from politi-cal committees and parties and receivingannual Form 1 Financial Disclosures fromcertain officers and employees of locationgovernment and reporting to the State.

The last duty area for the office involvesvoter education, not just in advance ofelections, but continuously. This includeseducation/registration programs annually ineach public high school and on each collegecampus in the county; ongoing maintenanceof a Web site (wwwwww..VVootteeHHiillllssbboorroouugghh..oorrgg)providing candidates, voters and the generalpublic with important information and news,as well as preparation and distribution ofhard copies and the provision of this infor-mation to media outlets for publication andvia public service announcements. Groupscan visit VoteHillsborough.org to request apresentation or voter registration drive fortheir meeting or event.

“It is possible for county residents to visit ourWeb site to update their voter registration orto contact us via email. And during elections,they can go to the web site to determine waittimes at our various county locations,” notedLatimer. “We also have a growing presenceon Facebook and Twitter.” The office mayalso be contacted by phone, 813-744-5900,to answer resident questions, provide infor-mation or other services. Residents may alsovisit the office in person. It is located on the16th Floor of the Fred B. Karl CountyCenter, 601 East Kennedy Boulevard,Tampa, FL 33602 and at 2514 NorthFalkenburg Road, Tampa, FL 33619.

As chief of staff and now as Supervisor ofElections Latimer has brought leadership andaccountability to the office; timely and accu-rate report of election results; impartialityand nonpartisanship; a renewed commitmentto ethics and professionalism; excellent voterservices; and responsible and conservativestewardship of taxpayers’ funds. When notworking “to make sure that HillsboroughCounty is the best place in America to vote”as his web site message states, Latimer enjoysflats fishing. •



The Aprile brothers – Joe, Dannyand Ronnie – are commemoratingthe 70th anniversary of their family

dairy farm, Aprile Farms. The businessbegan in 1943 with a handshake betweenthe brothers’ father, Jimmy, and HarveyRyals, a dairy cattle dealer and owner ofthe original land where the farm was locat-ed. “Mr. Ryals was able to combine thesale of 156-acres of land with a load ofdairy cattle from Tennessee,” saidJoe. That parcel, though reduced throughsales over the past seven decades, is stillpart of the family dairy farm. It is locatedin the northeast quadrant of the intersec-tion of Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 301,adjacent to the Florida State Fair grounds.

“Our family had six acres nearby and wasinvolved in truck farming where we raisedvegetables and cattle, selling meat and

produce from our grocery store and meatmarket in Ybor City” said Joe. TheAprile’s mother, Jennie, ran the fish andpoultry market and their dad’s family hada meat market across the street. Shortlyafter the land purchase, the familyconstructed a 10-stall barn where cowswere milked by hand twice eachday. Automation came to the dairy indus-try in the early 1950s and the Aprile’sfather purchased three surge “pot” milk-ers, enabling them to double the number ofcows milked each day. “Our cows aremilked two times each day, every day ofthe year,” noted Ronnie. “Pot milkers werean important breakthrough for the indus-try.” There have been added advancementssince then, leading to pipelines that bringtogether many milking stations and lead-ing to cooling facilities and refrigeratedstorage.

The Aprile dairy operation expanded to a20-stall facility and eventually the familybuilt a milking parlor in the early 60s,which allowed them to milk up to 300head. In the late 80s, Joe, Danny andRonnie expanded the operation to includetwo more dairy farms located inRiverview. “At one time we milked over1,500 cows at our three locations,” saidJoe. During those early days of the familybusiness and up until a number of yearsago, the Aprile’s sold their milk to FloridaDairy and Tropical Ice Cream located inYbor City. Now, they belong to SoutheastMilk, Inc., a dairy co-operative with over200 farm members in Florida, Georgia,North and South Carolina that marketstheir milk. Joe is a board member of theco-op, serves on the SMI executive com-mittee and also is its corporate secretary.

By Jim Frankowiak

Phot

osby

Step

hanie

Hum

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y


In 1937, National Milk Monthwas established as a way topromote drinking milk.

It was initially created to helpstabilize the dairy demand whenproduction was at a surplus.The National Dairy Councilchanged the name to National

Dairy Month and now each Junecelebrates the contributions thedairy industry has and continues

to make to the world.

“Our industry has changed dramaticallyover the years,” said Danny, current presi-dent of Hillsborough County FarmBureau. “When our dad began the familydairy, there were 70 dairies inHillsborough County. Now, there are onlythree, but we plan to stay in this business

just as long as we can.” The Aprile broth-ers cite the pressures of development asone of the key factors leading to theclosing of dairies. “Many dairies in thecounty were located close to residentialareas and the owners just couldn’t pass onthe offers they were receiving for theirland,” he said.

Dairy farming is a way of life that demandshard work every day, including weekends,since the cows at the Aprile’s must bemilked twice daily. “We were raised in thisbusiness and we all love it,” said Ronnie.“Though we each work every weekday, oneof us is ‘on call’ from after work Fridayuntil early Monday morning so we canrespond to anything that requires ourattention during the weekend.”

Another challenge facing dairies is therising cost of feed due to the introductionof ethanol. “Corn is a basic ingredient ofanimal feed and it is also the mainstay of

ethanol,” said Ronnie, who is a boardmember of Florida Dairy Farmers. “Whilethat’s great for corn farmers, it is not goodfor those of us that must feed ouranimals.” He noted that corn was sellingfor about $3.50 a bushel in 2003 andcurrent pricing has it close to $7 abushel. “In other words, our feed has morethan doubled in price over the lastdecade,” he said. “Consumers often thinkdairy farmers are the beneficiaries of thosehigh costs, but that is simply not the case.If our sons want to continue this familybusiness, we have to relocate and eitherlease or purchase more land at an afford-able price. We simply can’t do that on ourexisting operation.” It appears that theethanol dilemma may be subsiding some-what as limits are being set on the totalacreage corn farmers can devote toethanol, but that has yet to be final-ized. “We are optimistic,” said Danny,who noted, “farmers must be optimisticwith all challenges from feed prices to the


type of weather coming our way.” Droughts experienced in corncountry, the upper Midwest, have hampered yields, another factorimpacting the price of products produced with and from corn.

Pricing for the milk produced by the Aprile’s is pretty much out oftheir hands. “We are price takers, not makers,” said Joe. “Price ispretty much government controlled.” The family annuallyproduces approximately 10 million pounds of milk. “Those milktankers you see on the interstates and highways each carry 50,000pounds of milk,” said Joe.

Though the family’s primary focus was dairy farming, therealways has been a beef cattle dimension and that has grown overthe years to a point where their cow-calf business exceeds dairyfarming. “We are raising beef cattle at four locations on land weown or lease in Hillsborough and Pasco counties,” said Danny.“It is not possible for all of us to make a living on just our dairyoperations,” and he cites that side of the family business as aviable option for the next generation of Aprile’s. “My son Jasonand Ronnie’s son Little Ronnie currently work part-time in thebeef cattle side of our business,” he said.

Each of the dairy farming Aprile brothers recognizes the need tobecome and stay involved in the organizations that serve and assisttheir family operation, as well as agriculture in general. Theyknow how important it is for the voice of agriculture to be heardby lawmakers and regulators since that is critical not just to theirfamily business but the economy of Hillsborough County, Floridaand the U. S. “We have to co-exist with our urban neighbors andthere must be mutual respect on both sides,” said Danny. “Lawsand resulting regulations must be fair and recognize all of ourneeds.”

When not involved with their family operations or engaged withtheir industry associations, the Aprile brothers enjoy time spentwith their families, fishing and hunting.

Congratulations on seven decades of family dairy farming! •


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Gulf Coast Research and Education Center’s Ties With

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59

......ccoonnttiinnuueedd oonn ppaaggee 6611

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......ccoonnttiinnuueedd ffrroomm ppaaggee 5599


63

One of the more memorable signs of springtime in Florida isbeing bombarded by certain clumsy beetles. All but those inthe most sterile of environments can attest to being the unin-

tended target of a small but husky beetle resembling a flying roastedpeanut, in fact some people call them peanut bug. These beetles areactually members of the scarab beetle family and have no relationshipto a South American leafhopper species commonly known as thepeanut bug (Fulgora laternaria).

One of the subfamilies of the scarab beetle family is Dynastinae (rhi-noceros beetles). Within Dynastinae is the genus Cyclocephala, aGreek term meaning “rounded head”. This genus includes more than300 known species including the masked chafers, so named for theblack coloring on their head that resembles a mask. Evidence datingback to the early Cretaceous period suggests that beetles were amongthe first pollinators. The Southern Masked Chafer (Cyclocephala luri-da) remains the primary pollinator of the equally ancient Magnolia, aflowering plant that predates the bees and evolved to produce thickrugged flowers that could withstand the destructive behavior of polli-nating beetles. Popular tropical species such as Elephant Ear(Xanthosoma) and Philodendron are also primarily pollinated by themasked chafers.

The Cyclocephala beetles behavior and life cycle has established astronger regard for this insect as a pest than for its benefit. Dependingon the species, these beetles have spent anywhere from one to fouryears developing in the soil and while doing so, feed on the roots offield crops such as wheat, oat and corn. The larva destroy lawns byeating the grass roots throughout their development, leaving brownpatches of dead grass that even a good rain won’t recover. Heavilyinfested yards will feel spongy and with extreme infestation, can berolled up like a carpet because of extensive root damage.

Adult beetles seem to be emerging early this year and will likelyremain active through June or July. Southern masked chafers begintheir mating flight just before sunset and continue until about mid-night. Males surface before females and begin scouting about a foot

off the ground waiting for unmated females to emerge. Females willsurface to climb up the grass and release a sex pheromone thatattracts males in clusters. After mating, females dig back into the soilto deposit eggs. With sufficient moisture, the eggs will mature andhatch in about 18 days, the newly hatched larva collectively channelthrough the soil feeding on plant roots for as long as the soil remainswarm. When the soil temperature begins to cool in September, thelarvae begin migrating deeper into the soil to hibernate. Late instarlarvae begin a journey to the surface to feed before pupating and lateremerge as adults in the late spring and early summer. Cyclocephalaare only one species of a handful that are often generically referred toas “May Beetles” or “June Beetles”.

The term “White Grubs” is commonly used to refer to the larvae ofany of several species of beetles that are known to affect turfgrass.Homeowners may notice a parade of Ibis (the white birds with curvedbeaks) marching through the yard in search of these grubs. I amalways amazed with the ease in which these birds can locate andremove grubs that can be as deep as a few inches below the surface ofthe lawn. Birds are not the only natural predator of these grubs.Mammals such as armadillos, skunks, and opossums can apparentlyhear the activity of the grubs and dig up the yard looking for them.Perhaps their greatest predators are ants, particularly the native ThiefAnt (Solenopsis molesta), which have been shown to reduce eggpopulations by over 80 percent in field experiments.

The list of predators is incomplete without the human population.Some fishermen report white grubs are a great bait for catfish andperch and appreciate finding them. Native Americans roasted JuneBugs (Phyllophaga) over coals and ate them like popcorn, not becausethey had nothing better to eat, or a lack of hunting skills, this speciesactually has a pretty impressive nutritional profile: Protein (13.40g),Fat (1.40g), Carbohydrates (2.90g), Calcium (22.6mg), Iron (6mg).

Entomophagy is the practice of human consumption of insects andis practiced in 80 percent of the world’s nations. An increasingacceptance of this practice has stemmed from recent assessmentsof the potential for large scale entomophagy to provide a moresustainable alternative to animal livestock. Cyclocephala andPhyllophaga are a significant species for newcomers to entomophagy.They are not easily confused with any toxic species and do not haveoffensive diet or behavior characteristics. Although consumption ofcrop pests is not a control alternative in America, it is practiced inother countries and we may follow. •

By Sean GreenPhotos: April McDonaldA Closer Look

Masked Chafer (Cyclocephala)


If you have spent any time in the woods over the past month, youmay just be included in the handful of outdoor enthusiasts thathave enjoyed a reduction in mosquito woes at the expense of suf-

fering the assault of biting flies of the Tabanidae family. There is anestimated 4300 species within this family of biting flies worldwide,300 of which are specific to North America and 35 species in Florida,included in this family are: “Horse flies” (Tabanus), “Deer flies”(Chrysops) and Yellow flies (Diachlorus ferrugatus). In Florida, onlyone species is recognized as the Yellow Fly (Diachlorus ferrugatus).With a reputation of merciless aggression and a painful bite, Yellowflies are reported to bring a quick end to outdoor events when the flypopulations are at their greatest. A closer look at this common Floridaspecies will at the very least help set expectations and at best help usendure its population intervals.

Members of the Tabanidae family feed on pollen, nectar, and some-times insect feces, however, like mosquitoes, they require a blood mealfor egg production; consequently, there is a mechanical potential forthese flies to transfer disease organisms such as bacteria, and viruseson their mouthparts and are known vectors of some animal andhuman diseases. Unlike mosquitoes, the Yellow Fly has a shortproboscis, as such, access to blood does not come as easily for the yel-low fly as it does the mosquito. The yellow fly is nonetheless, verycapable of attaining the blood meal she needs. Typically, the mouthparts for flies are adapted for sucking, for many species, mandibles losttheir function in early fly evolution and were replaced with spongy ortubular mouth parts. Some species of bloodsucking flies evolved todevelop long piercing mouth parts. The yellow fly has retained scissor-like mandibles with which the skin of mammals can be sliced andenough blood released to draw up through a shortened sponge likeproboscis. The mechanics of feeding with a short proboscis appearawkward. The fly must lower its head and lift its abdomen to reach theblood at an efficient angle. To maintain blood flow, the yellow flyinjects an anti-coagulant into the wound, which is thought to be thecause of allergic reactions to the bite when occasional reactions occur.

Yellow flies are most active in the first few hours of sunrise and acouple hours preceding sunset. May and June are especially activemonths throughout central and northern sections of Florida, however,this species has been collected as early as March in Monroe Countyand as late as November in Pinellas County. Female Yellow flies willbe the most noticeable, they will be the ones biting, the males areharmless, but if you want a visual comparison of the two, the maleshave connected eyes and the females have clearly separate eyes. Asambush predators, adult Yellow Flies lie in wait on vegetation in shadyforested areas; motion is thought to play the most significant role intriggering an attack. This species will rarely stray far from the shade ofthe forest so if you seek refuge from attack full sun is a good bet.

Control of Yellow flies can be difficult at best. Mosquito repellentshave little to no effect on adults and there are no known effectivelarval control methods. Environmental control is not a reasonable

solution because they breed in marshes and wet meadows and drain-ing such bodies of water would destroy valuable wildlife ecosystems.Like other insects, Yellow flies have natural enemies such as birds,dragonflies and spiders, most notable however is the horse guardwasp (Stictia carolina), a type of sand wasp that preys almost exclu-sively on biting flies of the Tabanidae family. The female wasp of thisspecies digs a small egg chamber in the sand for each of her eggs andstocks the chamber with as many as 60 flies to provision her larvawith a two week supply of food to help it through its final develop-ment into adulthood. After stocking the cell, she covers the chamberwith sand to protect it from predators and provide a safe environmentfor metamorphosis. Attempting to control Yellow flies with sprayapplications would eliminate these beneficial wasps and soon magni-fy the problem when the Yellow flies return with no natural enemiesto reduce emerging populations. Farmers, particularly those that keephorses, welcome this wasp when it is recognized. As a species, thehorse guard wasp is a faithful nester and will often return to the samenesting grounds year after year despite environmental changes andalternative nesting options. Traps are an option for temporarilycontrolling small public areas such as swimming pools and camp sites;we have provided instructions to build your own yellow fly trap onour activities page in this issue.

Yellow Fly (Diachlorus ferrugatus)


By Sean GreenPhotos: April McDonald



Mary Ellen ButlerPlant City - passed away March 26, 2013

Faye Booth Gorman - 75Plant City - died March 29, 2013

William “Blackie” Fred Blackmon, 80Plant City - passed away March 31, 2013

James “JD” David Rorrer - 69Plant City - passed away March 31, 2013

Rexal "Rex" Lee Tolbert - 66Lithia/Plant City - passed away April 5, 2013

Thomas Donaldson Richey, Jr. - 77Plant City - passed away April 8, 2013

Larry Long - 72Plant City - passed away April 9, 2013

Timothy “Tim” Patrick - 46Plant City - passed away April 10, 2013

Angel Lee Liscome Scott - 74Auburndale - passed away April 13, 2013

Dolores D. Hanlon - 83Plant City - passed away April 13, 2013

Curtis E. Brown - 74Plant City - passed away May 16, 2013

Roberto Lopez - 26Plant City - passed away May 17, 2013

Edith Ramona Futch - 71Plant City - passed away May 17, 2013

Susan Corvette Salermo - 57Thonotosassa - passed away May 17, 2013

Virginia “Ginny” Ruth Diaz - 66Plant City - passed away May 20, 2013

Donald Eugene Myers - 78Lakeland - passed away May 21, 2013

Barbara Jean Lashbrook - 86Plant City - passed away May 22, 2013

James Oran Spear - 84Tampa - passed away May 23, 2013

Harold Theodore Anklam - 77Plant City - passed away May 28, 2013


The 2013 Florida Legislative Session was a successful one for FloridaFarm Bureau as all five priority bills passed and proceeded on toGov. Rick Scott for his signature. Later in the month, the governor

signed into law the Florida Families First budget, making new investmentsin the state’s agricultural industry, including added funding for the Freshfrom Florida program, Everglades restoration and citrus greening research.

“Florida Farm Bureau commends Governor Scott and the FloridaLegislature for their investment into agriculture, an industry that generatesmore than $100 billion annual economic impact for the state of Florida,”said President John Hoblick of Florida Farm Bureau on Gov. Scott’s sign-ing of the Florida Families First Budget. “The Fresh from Florida market-ing program helps sustain sales of foods and other items grown on familyfarms located throughout Florida. Gov. Scott’s Families First Budget makesa strong commitment to family farms and agriculture producers in Floridaby providing necessary funds to support the world wide marketing ofFlorida grown products. The Fresh from Florida program helps our farm-ers and ranchers continue to create benefits for all Floridians as they gener-ate the second most important base of our economy,” said Hoblick.

“Gov. Scott and the Legislature’s $9.5 million investment in research aimedat stopping citrus greening is critical. Florida citrus is a vital part of agricul-ture and Florida’s economy. This commitment will go a long way to ensurethat our citrus growers will overcome this devastating disease and continueto produce the products we all enjoy,” he said. “Florida Farm Bureau ispleased with Gov. Scott’s commitment to continued funding for keyEverglades restoration projects such as the Central Everglades PlanningProject (CEPP) and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan(CERP). Gov. Scott and the Legislature made a $70 million investment intoa natural treasure that is essential in Florida and the rest of the country,”Hoblick concluded.

In addition to legislation dealing with restoration of the Everglades, otherFarm Bureau priority bills included:

AAGGRRIITTOOUURRIISSMM – This bill limits the liability of local governments to reg-ulate agritourism and provides limited liability protection for agritourismoperators. By removing these barriers, this legislation will provide opportu-nities for Florida’s family farmers to increase revenues and educate thepublic about food production and the agriculture industry.GGRREEEENNBBEELLTT – This legislation removed antiquated language making itmore difficult for the greenbelt classification to be removed from land withbona fide agriculture production.AAGGRRIICCUULLTTUURRAALL LLAANNDDSS//DDUUPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN OOFF RREEGGUULLAATTIIOONN – Thislegislation prohibits any governmental entity from charging fees or adopt-ing regulations that limit activities on a farm if that activity is already reg-ulated at the state or federal level.WWAATTEERR SSUUPPPPLLYY – As a result of this bill, the Florida Department ofAgriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) now has “a seat at the table”during the water supply planning process. This measure also requires WaterManagement Districts to consider data from FDACS during the planningprocess.

A sincere thanks to all who supported passage of these bills and to thoseFarm Bureau members who took the time to participate in Farm BureauDay during the legislative session at Tallahassee, as well as contacting theirlegislators on behalf of these critical issues. •

2013 Florida LegislativeSession - A Success for Farm BureauBy Jim Frankowiak



The number of farms and agricultural venues inHillsborough County far exceeds the time available tosit down and count them for the sake of this article. That

said, what should come to the forefront of any farmer or ranch-er’s thought process is what to do with animals that expire.Certainly there is enough acreage to bury your own livestock,right? Or, at least there’s a company that will come and disposeof the deceased for you, right? These are the questions thatwe started asking after being informed of a rather repulsivedismembered horse case that happened right here!

Recently the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office was called in ona rather unique and revolting assignment. According toAgricultural Crimes Unit Sergeant Ed Raburn, “Out in the area ofBruton Road and Dormany Road, (one of those back countryAntioch roads) someone’s horse died and I suppose they didn’thave the means to dig a hole big enough, so they apparently cutthe legs off so that it would fit into the bed of their pick-up truck,placed it in the bed of the truck, and in the middle of the nightthey drove out and threw it in a ditch on the side of the road. Itlaid there for a couple of days and eventually a resident of the areadrove by and saw it. Apparently not sure what action to take orwho to call, and being aware of some recent media on horseslaughter, the resident called a local Channel 10 reporter aboutthe incident. Because of the strange situation with the dismember-ment of the animal, there was even a suggestion that some ritual-istic practices may have been involved. The reporter notified theHCSO Agricultural Unit on her way to the incident scene, andDetective Lowell Cain, a veteran Agricultural Crimes Detectivealso responded. After an in-depth investigation, it was determinedthat the horse died of apparent natural causes and the legs wereremoved as a matter of function.”

Sergeant Raburn explained part of the problem. “There are nomore animal carcass removal services in Hillsborough County.There used to be one, but it is no longer in business. TheHillsborough County Public Utilities Department will remove

large animals from the county right-of-way on an as-needed basis,which is what occurred in this case at the conclusion ofthe Sheriff’s Office investigation.”

A quick read through the Florida Statutes reveals the conse-quences of improper carcass disposal, something that the horsedumper should have checked into. In fact, the 2011 FloridaStatutes (wwwwww..ffllsseennaattee..ggoovv//LLaawwss//SSttaattuutteess//22001111//882233..004411) state:“Any owner, custodian or person in charge of domestic animals,upon the death of such animals due to disease, shall dispose of thecarcasses of such animals by burning or burying at least two feetbelow the surface of the ground…it is unlawful to dispose of thecarcass of any domestic animal by dumping such carcass on anypublic road or right-of-way, or in any place where such carcasscan be devoured by beast or bird…any person violating any of theprovisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of thesecond degree.” It also specifies that the use of the word domesticapplies to any equine or bovine animal as well as other domesti-cated beasts and birds. So, if there is indeed no company todispose of these larger animals, and according to the state statutesyou are responsible for your own burning and burying, are thereany other viable options? What other choices were available forthe horse dumper?

Shearer, Irsik and Jennings (hhttttpp::// // eeddiiss..iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu//vvmm113333) of theUniversity of Florida answer this question in their paper, Methodsof Large Animal Carcass Disposal in Florida. Jokingly theyinform the reader that in Florida there are plenty of buzzards,coyotes and other scavengers willing to assist in the removal of thedeceased animal. However, they do admit that proper methodsare necessary to prevent the spread of disease, infection andpredation. Thusly they share the top four methods of carcassdisposal: burial, composting, incineration and rendering. Whendiscussing burial they point out that, “there are often regulationsas to the number of pounds of animal carcass per acre per yearthat may be buried.” The larger animals are usually buried inseven foot wide by nine foot deep trenches. That’s a considerable

Horse Dumpingis a Second Degree MisdemeanorProper Carcass Disposal By Ginny Mink

amount of space and definitely time consuming to dig, no doubtpart of the reason the Bruton Road horse was treated so poorly.

The article then moves onto composting which they define as “thecontrolled decomposition of organic materials.” However, accord-ing to Shearer (et al), “the use of composting as a method for dis-posal of carcasses often requires a permit from the state’sDepartment of Agriculture.” They then specifically describe theprocess for composting including the fact that quartering the ani-mal and opening up its thorax, abdomen and rumen will allow itto compost more quickly. We suspect that the complicated natureand permit requirements for this method are what have preventeda new animal removal business from popping up in HillsboroughCounty. This applies also to the concept of incineration, asEnvironmental Protection Agencies regulate incinerators used forburning up the carcasses. The final suggestion, rendering, is appar-ently a dying art as it involves cooking the carcass to yield usableend products and only about 50 percent of the states within the USaccept this methodology. That directs us back to the concept ofburying these animals. So, if you are a large animal owner, it is inyour best interest to know the law, and probably to own someother heavy digging equipment because, as Shearer (et al) says,“Even when animals are well cared for they sometimes die, andwhen they do, we’re left with a carcass in need of disposal.” •



Tile making is an ancient art and one of the simplestof the ceramic arts. The earliest examples of hand-made tiles are Egyptian samples that date back to4,000 BC. Though traditionally, tiles were made fromsoil composed of sand, silt and clay (loam). Decorativetiles that resemble the traditional tiles can be madewith simple ingredients that are probably already inthe kitchen. This month we will create tiles out of aflour mixture that can be decorated with objects youfind in nature or in your home.

MMaatteerriiaallss::Mixing BowlWooden SpoonBaking SheetRolling PinWax PaperCutting implements (cookie cutters, small containers)

Imprint objects (sea shells, leaves, pinecones,twigs, acorns, anything that will make animpression)

IInnggrreeddiieennttss::Water: (1 cups)Flour: (2 cups)Salt: (¼ cup)Cream of Tartar (½ tbsp) or Lemon Juice (¾ tbsp) (optional-improves elasticity)

Vegetable OilDye: (food coloring, dark coffee, fruit juice, anything that stains)

Naturally Amazing Activities

Flour TilesBy Sean Green

• Bring the water to a boil, add your choice of dye (see ingredients).

• Mix Flour, Salt and cream of Tartar in a large bowl

• Remove the water from the heat and add vegetable oil.

• Pour water mixture into bowl of flour mixture.

• Mix thoroughly and let sit until it is slightly warm(about 5 min).

• Lay clay mixture on wax paper and flatten to desired thickness with the rolling pin.

• Cut tile shapes with cookie cutters or small containers.

• Press objects into the clay mixture to make designs into the tile.

• Place tiles on the baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hrs (or until dry and hard).

There are several do it yourself yellow fly trap designsavailable on the internet and there is some disagreementon the color of the trap and its usage. The common (andcritical) factor for the effectiveness of the trap is the factthat the yellow flies attack trigger is movement, there-fore, the trap has to move to mimic a live food source,a trap that remains still will not be an effective lure forthe flies ambushing behavior. This month’s activity is thecreation of an appropriate trap that is inexpensive tomake and requires no pesticides to be effective.

Through careful experimentation, University of FloridaIFAS has determined that a 6-inch plastic nursery potpainted a bright blue is the optimum size and color forDeer Flies, however, the trap does not catch Horse Fliesor Yellow Flies very often. Other sources have reportedgood results using black traps for Yellow Flies. Packagesof balloons come in different colors, experiment and usewhat works best.

MMaatteerriiaallss::GlovesTangle-TrapPlastic Sandwich BagPlastic Cups (Blue or Black)Balloons (Blue or Black)TwineSafety Pins

LLaarrggee bbaalllloooonn ttrraappssThese can be used at poolside’s or camp sites toattract and trap flies before they reach you.The balloons movement (from the wind) attracts

Sticky Yellow Fly Trap

the flies; they get stuck in the goo and don’t bother you! This method will be easier to clean up than using a beach ball, simply pop the balloonand toss it.

Inflate the balloon• Tie twine to one end of the balloon so it can be hung up.

• Hang the balloon on a tree or right angle pole in a manner that will allow the balloon to freely move in the wind.

• Coat the balloon with Tangle-Trap (or similar sticky substance).

TThhee hhaatt ttrriicckkThis sticky cup is placed on the top of a ball capto trap some of the flies that may be buzzing yourhead on a hiking trip or campout. Remember, keepmoving. This method makes for very easy clean-up, simply remove the sandwich bag, fold it intoitself (like taking off a latex glove) and toss it inthe trash.

• Place a sandwich bag over the plastic cup.• Secure the plastic bag by stacking another plastic cup into the first.

• Attach the plastic cup to a ball cap with safety pins.

• Coat the cup with Tangle-Trap (or similar sticky substance).

Inspired by:III, Dr Russell F Mizel. The Trolling Deer Fly Trap. University of FloridaIFAS. Quincy: University of Florida IFAS, 2004. Web Document. 30 May2013. http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/MizellRF/deerfly_trap.htm. Photo Credits:UmbrellaGirl http://deerflytrapumbrella.blogspot.com/

INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 73WWW. INTHEF I E LDMAGAZ INE .COM


There is an old saying that says, “In learning you will teach and in teach-ing you will learn.” That’s how Ryan Iacovacci is approaching the newclass he will be teaching at the Ybor Campus of Hillsborough

Community College (HCC) in Tampa. He will be teaching Introduction toSustainable Food Systems, which is a non-credit certification course that issponsored by HCC Sustainability Council and The Institute of Florida Studiesat HCC. The class is made up of 12 one-hour class room instructions and twofield tours, one to Morningstar Fisherman Aquaponics in Dade City, and theother to Sweetwater Organic Farm in Tampa. It will feature guest speakersfrom the local food industry, academia and the community. Iacovacci and theguest speakers will cover an array of topics from urban farming to local foodmarketing and distribution. “My goal with this class is to give the students asample of everything from seeds to the agriculture legal department,”Iacovacci said. “I also want to learn more myself and see what some of theprofessional guest speakers have to say.” He also wants his students to learnabout their local food system. Iacovacci feels that the local food system iswhere the next big job boom will take place. The local food system is alsoIacovacci’s area of expertise.

Iacovacci has been around agriculture his whole life. His father owned a 26-acre horse farm in Michigan where he grew up baling hay and picking apples.His mother was a big supporter of organic foods for better health and was agardener as well, so you could say his parents planted the seed in him thatlater became his passion…local food. He’s not alone in his passion, the localfood movement is growing and people are becoming more interested in wheretheir food is coming from and how it’s produced. They also like that buyinglocal food improves their local economy and environment.

So what exactly is “local food?” Although perception of what makes up localfood differs by region, due to varying climates, soil types and populations,most people feel that local food or “eating locally” means minimizing the dis-tance between production and consumption. According to the 2008 FarmAct, “a product can be marketed as locally or regionally produced if its end-point purchase is within in 400 miles from origin, or within state boundaries.”Most retailers, however, consider local to be a smaller scale than the state leveland the term is often defined as products produced and sold within countylines. There is also the social side of local food. Buying local food gives youinsight into your food’s story through talking with the people who grew it ormade it. It also connects you to nature as well. “People want to be moreinvolved with nature and the food system is a part of nature,” Iacovacci said.

Originally, Iacovacci tried to get his class started at the University of SouthFlorida because its his almamater, but he kept hitting a brick wall. It was at aluncheon where Iacovacci was catering when he had a chance meeting withDr. Sudeep Vyapari, the Sustainability Coordinator of HCC. “We made lentilstogether and from there it was, let’s talk about this class and see if we canmake something happen for HCC,” Iacovacci said. The mission of the HCCSustainability Council is to transform HCC into a participating sustainablemember of society. Through a partnership with students, faculty, staff, admin-istrators and community members, they seek to establish and nurture an insti-tutional culture of sustainability and promote excellence and leadership ineducation, innovation and stewardship. They want to achieve economic,social and environmental sustainability that will ensure the health and wellbeing of present and future generations of people, both locally and globally.“My hope for the class is that every student will walk away from the classwith a clear direction concerning local food,” Iacovacci said. “ I want peopleto walk away from this class feeling empowered.”

For more information on the Introduction to Sustainable Food Systems class at HCCyou can call 813-757-2186 or visit their website at wwwwww..hhccccffll// iiffss.

The HCC Ybor Campus is located at 2112 N. 15th Street in Tampa.

By Libby Hopkins

Planting the Seeds of Empowerment





He’s been a beloved and respected part of agribusiness for38 years, all as part of the sales team of Purina AnimalNutrition and its forerunner companies, but Area Sales

Manager – Southern Coast Fred Williams has retired. Overseeing thePurina sales team in Florida, most of Alabama and parts of Georgiafrom his base in Mulberry since 1992, “Mr. Fred,” as he is knownand referred to by many within and outside Purina, decided to focuson the healthcare needs of his wife Gale after a fourth recurrence withcancer in 2012 and the opportunity to spend more time with hisgrandchildren, golf and furthering his fondness for BBQ.

“It’s Big and Gigi time,” said Williams referring to the nicknameshe and his wife have. Retirement for Fred will mean continuedinvolvement with the Florida FFA Foundation, where he is a boardmember, and the annual Purina Invitational Golf tourney (PIG), aswell as Old Timers of Purina Service (OTOPS) and maybe a KCBSBBQ Contest or two along the way.

Fred’s run has been noteworthy for many reasons and many are welldocumented in the “Book of Letters” given to him at his retirementparty. The “Book” is a Purina tradition whereby colleagues writeletters to the retiree, detailing achievements and special memo-ries. Fred’s book, which was assembled by his assistant KathyBecker, is a very substantial document with letters noting his attrib-utes from leadership and mentoring to southern gentleman and manof God. Throughout his career Fred has hired, trained and mentoredcountless members of the Purina team and some have gone on topositions within the company whereby they oversee Fred.

Quite a track record of achievement for a man from Como,Mississippi who initially aspired to a career in veterinary medicine.But first a “Mr. Fred” description of his hometown which is 40 milessouth of Memphis “with one red stop light which we put on a cop carat night.” To understand Fred is to know and appreciate a man witha unique sense of humor.

The son of Fred senior, a lifelong cattle buyer, and Marjorie, Fred Jr.thought he wanted to be a vet and he pursued an animal science cur-riculum at Mississippi State University. That was also Gale’s majorand they met in a sheep science class. After three attempts at vetschool, Fred decided to accept one of three job offers he had as heapproached graduation in 1975. “I think I am probably the onlypre-vet class president at Mississippi State not to become a vet,” henoted. One of those job offers was from A. L. Occhipinti, a RalstonPurina (as the company was known then) executive Fred had metwhile involved in a summer internship before graduation. “Occh asOcchipinti was known to many, had a dramatic effect on me and mycareer and I am forever grateful to him for all that he did for me,”said Williams. His decision to join Purina led to 13 moves and 16different titles, all involved with the sale of feed. “I was introducedto a white shirt and checkerboard tie, plus an annual salary of$9,600.”

Those who know and have worked with Mr. Fred respect and admirehis skills at working with people, developing sales talent, servingcustomers and always doing the right thing, often amid some seriouschallenges. His company has gone through seven different owners,bankruptcy protection and all of the challenges such eventssurface. His “Book of Letters” attests to is ability to work throughmost any situation and to do so in a manner that was respectful andmeaningful, often laced with his special brand of humor. And, if therewas a way to blend in a game of golf and some barbecue, he woulddo it. Williams and his friend Mark Poppell were instrumental inhelping to introduce and grow the popular Pig Jam competition andevent to Plant City.

Williams is thankful for many things in his career and life. Gale,“like the hurricane” he says when asked for the correct spelling, is onthe top of that list followed by daughters Candice and Krista, theirspouses Paul and Daniel and two granddaughters, Allie and Taylorand a third grandchild on the way, the first for Krista andDaniel. “We have been blessed with wonderful daughters and theirfine husbands,” he said. Fred and Gigi are long term members ofPlant City First Baptist Church and both daughters were married byReverend Tommy Warnock. •

A special IN THE FIELD note of congratulations to Fred Williamsfor your years of service to agriculture and our fondest best wishes for“Big and Gigi time!”

Fred “Mr. Fred” WilliamsRETIRES FROM PURINA

“It’s Big and Gigi Time!”By Jim Frankowiak


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The 31st annual Agritech is hosted by the Florida StrawberryGrowers Association. As a vendor you will meet with growersand industry representatives, and enjoy great food. Fifty (50)booths are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. To exhibit,Associate membership is required. Gold Associate members geta free booth. This is one event of the year where we have almost90 percent of the industry in one room!

This year’s theme is Hunting. Ribbons will be given out to thetop three booths that participate in the theme by decoratingtheir booth. New this year is a Clay Shoot and dinner onMonday night. After the exhibitors set up at Agritech, we headto the Fishhawk Sporting Clays in Lithia for a fun event! Agritechguest speakers and sessions are currently being lined up.Topics will include food safety, immigration, fumigant alterna-tives, traceback, and labor issues – along with the latest infor-mation on research and technology.

Included in your Registration: Breakfast and lunch both days fortwo (2) people • 8 ft. x 8 ft. booth • 8 ft. high backdrop & 3 ft.high side drape • 2 side chairs • One 6 ft. table • Electricity:5 AMP 120 volt

Important Dates & Times:• Set-up: Monday, Aug. 12th - Noon to 4 p.m.• Clay Shoot: 5 p.m.• Show Times: Tuesday & Wednesday, Aug. 13th & 14th7:30 a.m. 4 p.m.

• Tear down: Wednesday, Aug. 14th after and not before 1 p.m.

Registration deadline is July 25th, to be listed in event programs.

CompanyAddress:

Phone:Registrants Names:

Sponsor Registration� Clay Shoot Dinner $500� Tues. or Wed. Break $250� Tues. or Wed. Breakfast $500� Tues. or Wed. Lunch $1,000

Registration� Clay Shoot Registration $300

(50 Clays) *Team of 4 Shooters� Membership Registration $35� Non-Membership Registration $50

Exhibitor RegistrationCorporate membership required

� Booth $500 (per booth)� Associate $250� Bronze $500� Silver $1,000� Gold $2,000

Total Due $

Please fill out form completely if you are paying by credit card. If payingby check, please make payable to FSGA.

� Visa � MasterCard

Name on Card:Card Number:Exp. Date: Billing Zip:

* All registrations include meals, breaks & educational materials.Mail registration and/or checks to: 13138 Lewis Gallagher Rd.

Dover, FL 33527

Registration

Agritech 2013 will be held in the John R. Trinkle Buildingand is located at the Plant City Campus of the HillsboroughCommunity College at 1206 N. Park Rd., Plant City, FL 33563

Hotel accommodations can be made at the Holiday InnExpress on Park Rd. For a special rate, mention the FloridaStrawberry Growers Association.

For more information call FSGA at (813)719-3800.




When my third grade son camehome with a permission slip fora field trip to Ag-Venture at the

Florida State Fairgrounds I thought,“Excellent, maybe we can do an articleon a kid’s experience at Ag-Venture.”I discussed the concept with him and hewas thrilled at the idea of getting to be areporter for the day. So, equipped with acamera and his instructions to pay atten-tion to everything, off he went. When hecame home with a bag full of freebies andrecorded interviews with his peers, youcould tell he’d enjoyed himself. So, with-out further ado, I share with you, a child’sperspective.

Jaidyn Stewart, age 9, described Ag-Venture this way, “Well, when I got thereit seemed like it wouldn’t be anything at alland the building didn’t look like it wasanything but the inside was impressive,over-decorated. The first thing we went towas a pollution thing that was like anexample of the pollution in our area andthe lady showed us how much pollutionwe put into the air and into the streamsand all that. I didn’t think it would be thatmuch pollution ‘cause the farms even giveoff pollution and I thought farms were allpure, organic and didn’t give off any pollu-tion, that they were anti-pollution. Theyare giving off sludge pollution from theiranimals, and that’s getting into the streamsand then their animals are getting into thestreams and stamping all around and usingthe bathroom and all of that.”

I had to laugh at his disgust with regards tothe animal’s waste but we continued theinterview. He returned to his descriptions,

“After we did the pollution table thingy,we went to the Soil Baby tables and creat-ed a Soil Baby which is pantyhose that youfilled with seeds and dirt and decorated itto make a face. Then you tie a knot intothe pantyhose so that all the dirt doesn’tfall out and then you water it and take careof it; that way the types of seeds that areinside can thrive and grow and supposedlyit’s supposed to help with pollution.” Ifyou have never seen a “Soil Baby” it’s kindof like a homemade chia pet, the seeds theyplanted must have been some kind of grassbecause it looks like it’s got hair!

It took him awhileto recall the nextstop but finally headded, “Next wewent to the DairyStation. I took pic-tures of all thetypes of cows thatthey showed ontheir little videoexplaining what

cows did and what kinds there are. At thesame station, later, we learned how tomake butter without the salt and the addedingredients, just heavy cream shaken up.Then we went through this little tenthangy thing and out to a big hump-backedcow and a guy in his twenties explainedwhat this cow was and that it was a maleand then he took us into this other roombehind the dairy station and he gave us allsheets for a game that he called beef-o andgave us marshmallows to mark our spaces‘cause it’s like bingo and on the sheet it hasall the things that are made by cow by-products.”

No doubt the plethora of cow by-productslisted on his beef-o sheet was impressive tohim. He concluded, “It was overall prettyexciting and intriguing. I would want tovisit that place again and I learned a lot.Like I said earlier, I didn’t know that therewas that much pollution and I didn’t knowa lot of the stuff that I learned at the otherstations. There’s one that talks aboutplants and there’s another station that’sabout P, N and K, nitrogen, phosphorousand potassium and how they help keep ourplants healthy and good but there are moreminerals and stuff that help but P, N and Klead the pack.” He had a coloring book tosupport this new knowledge and he used itto recall what the P, N and K stood for.

After he went to bed, I reviewed Jaidyn’sinterview video tape. The first young mansaid that the coolest thing they did wasmake butter. He added, “The coolest thingfor me was to fill a potato bag with seedsand…the sock person.” He was, of course,referring to the Soil Baby. Another said,“Probably the funnest thing I did was tomake the butter. The weirdest thing I sawwas that cow because it had so many bugson it, it was crazy! Probably kids wouldwant to go there, it was very fun.”

Jaidyn also interviewed two young ladies,the first one said, “I would say that thebest part for me was when we made thebutter,” in the background of the videoyou can hear Jaidyn’s exasperation as athird person gives him the same answer.She continues, “Seeing the cow, the grayone with the big hump on its back was theweirdest. It was a fun experience.”

Story by Ginny Mink Photos by Jaidyn Stewart


The other young lady was apparently quite shyas she only answered “yes” to his questions.

He then interviewed his teacher, Mrs.Fernandez. She said, “The best thing about Ag-Venture was watching you guys make the SoilBabies, and the butter; it’s hard to say what wasthe best part. Finding out about all the beefby-products was theweirdest thing.” Of thefive attendees that heinterviewed, all of themagreed that it was anexperience worth rec-ommending to others.

According to the Ag-Venture website (hhttttpp::// //aagg--vveennttuurree..ccoomm), “Ag-Venture is a “hands-on”learning experience designed to teach 3rd gradestudents in Hillsborough County, FL about theimportance of agriculture and to help themdevelop an understanding and appreciation ofwhere their food comes from and the impact ofAgriculture in their everyday lives.” Given theexcitement and enthusiasm I saw in both my sonand those he interviewed, I would have to saythat this hands-on learning experience was quitea success. If you have a child approachingthe third grade make sure to talk this field tripup because making butter can apparently bevery memorable and hump-backed cows aredefinitely weird. •


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Farm Credit of Central Florida representatives had a chance to talk toSenator Marco Rubio in Lakeland regarding issues relevant to Florida agriculture and Farm Credit.

From L-R: Farm Credit of Central Florida President &CEO, Reggie Holt, & Senator Rubio.

Back Row: Farm Credit of Central Florida Directors,Keith Mixon, Lewis Stidham, John Langford,

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Marco Rubio Talks Agriculture

Photo: Ron OʼConnor _ Farm Credit


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The hurricane season extends fromJune 1 to November 30. History hasproven that hurricanes can cause

severe damage not only to residential andbusiness structures, but also to surroundingtopography. Despite the damage they cause,hurricanes play an important role in the evo-lution of Florida’s coastal areas. Hurricaneshelp alter coastline shape and maintain plantand animal diversity.

Building codes have been established to pro-tect residential, business, and some outdoorstructures, however, in many cases the land-scape is the last to receive attention. Once ahurricane warning has been posted it is toolate to prepare the landscape for potentialdamage. Advance planning and action areimportant to safeguard this asset that canprovide a buffer zone to reduce structuraldamage.

Landscape preparation for hurricanes shouldbegin before hurricane season. This involvesassessing the landscape trees, plants andstructures for health and sturdiness, perform-ing maintenance and pruning, and evenreplacing less wind resistant trees, plants andstructures with more wind resistant varietiesand structures.

Preparing a landscape for hurricanes involvesthree steps: pre-storm assessment, pre-stormmaintenance, and landscape design orredesign.

Perform a pre-storm assessment to identifypotential damage that could occur during ahurricane. Consider storm issues such as:• Flooding, erosion and property drainageissues that may contribute to standingwater

• Salt spray that may damage plants• Winds that may damage less sturdy trees,plants and outdoor structures

Items that typically receive the most damageare less wind resistant trees, pavilions, arbors

and fences. Items that receive the least dam-age are wind resistant trees, shrubs, wallsand pavement.

Pre-storm maintenance includes performinghousekeeping tasks such as:• Checking plant material for vigor• Implementing a proper fertilization andirrigation program that keeps plantmaterial healthy

• Staking or anchoring recently plantedtrees

• Removing dead, unhealthy or weakenedtrees and plant material

• Removing limbs that overhang structures• Pruning trees properly and removingselective branches to allow wind to passthrough the trees

• Removing trees that may damage utilities• Replacing trees or plants with windresistant varieties

• Placing utilities underground• Removing dead leaves from large palms• Cleaning leaves and twigs from gutters• Anchoring or bracing outdoor structures• Adding or repositioning drainage lines• Constructing wind gap panels in solidfencing

• Identifying or creating safe zones forstoring moveable planters or hangingpots

• Installing lightning protection systems onrare or historic trees

• Adding or pruning specific plantmaterial or hedges to direct wind flow

• Checking insurance policies forlandscape and outdoor structurecoverage

• Photographically documenting the site

Wind resistant trees have characteristics thatcontribute to their ability to withstand highwinds. Many of these trees are native speciesthat are slow growing with hardwood, youngto middle aged, and healthy, vigorous andwell maintained. They also typically have alow center of gravity, open branch structure,

well developed root structure, strong leaders,flexible limbs, and small fine textured decid-uous leaves.

Live oak, sand live oak, southern magnolia,sweet gum, holly, sycamore, blackgum, crepemyrtle, podocarpus and bald cypress are allmore wind resistant trees. Sabal palm, Pindopalm and Chinese fan palm are more windresistant. Laurel oak, water oak, sand pine,red cedars, and Leyland cypress are all lesswind resistant trees. Queen palm andWashington fan palm are least wind resistant.

Your landscape can utilize trees, plant mate-rial and structures to direct wind flow reduc-ing the potential for damage. Landscapes canbe designed or redesigned to take advantageof the natural wind deflection properties ofplants. Sentinels or tall, flexible trees take thebrunt of the wind, but also serve to break upthe wind. Hedges and plant layering slowwind gusts and obstruct flying objects. Densehedges can cut wind velocity up to 60 per-cent. Under-story plant material providesprotection for wildlife while filtering thewind. Storm walls and berms can also beused to direct wind flow.

Despite pre-storm maintenance and prepara-tions the landscape will suffer hurricanedamage. Perform a post-storm damageassessment of trees, plant materials andstructures. Documentation by photographyis recommended. Insurance companies rarelyprovide substantial coverage for landscapeloss so quick action is necessary. For infor-mation on post-storm landscape mainte-nance see the future article entitledHurricanes: Your Landscape After the Storm.

For additional information on hurricanes and trees view thefollowing articles:Selecting Tropical and Subtropical Trees for Wind Resistance,website UURRLL:: hhttttpp::// //hhoorrtt..iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu// ttrreeeessaannddhhuurrrriiccaanneess// .How to Minimize Wind Damage in the South FloridaLandscape website UURRLL::hhttttpp::// // eeddiiss..iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu//eepp004422 or contact the UF/IFAS Hillsborough Extension service at(813)744-5519 or view the website athhttttpp::// // hhiillllssbboorroouugghh..iiffaass..uuffll..eedduu..

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The motto at Stingray Chevrolet inPlant City is “Relax and enjoy thedifference.” The difference they

talk about in their motto isn’t just relatedto buying a car or truck, it’s also the differ-ence they make in Plant City and the sur-rounding communities. The dealership isthe largest in Southeastern Florida. Theyalso have a location in Bartow. The PlantCity location sits on 36 acres of land, with26 of those acres being used to show the900-1200 cars they have in stock. A tenthof the property is covered in white trucksfor the fleet department at Stingray.“That’s what we primarily sell here in thefleet department,” said the Director ofFleet Operations, Bob Baker. His depart-ment, just like the rest of the dealership, isdedicated to keeping its customers businessmoving because they understand that vehi-cle downtime leads to lost revenue. Theywant to keep the local economy thriving inPlant City. Baker has a staff of nine peoplededicated to business sales. “It’s not a part-time business,” Baker said. “We have 12drivers that deliver the vehicles right to the

customer’s businesses.” The fleet depart-ment has been number one in sales for thestate since 2009 and Baker believes hisdepartment has held that title for so longbecause of the strong ties the dealershiphas with the local community. “Ourowner, Steve Hurley, grew up in Lakelandand him purchasing this store in 2008, waskind of meant to be,” Baker said. “It wasa situation where he had to really turnaround the reputation of the store and hedid that by becoming very involved withthe Plant City community.” Hurley is veryactive in the community. He is the presi-dent of the nonprofit Unity in theCommunity (www.unityinplantcity.org).

The mission of Unity in the Community isto provide for those in need in the PlantCity area in as many ways as possible.Since 1999, the organization has madeover a half a million dollars for the com-munity service organizations and servedover 300 Thanksgiving dinners to familiesin need. It is completely staffed by volun-teers and all the money raised by the

organization stays in the Plant City area.“It’s the primary charity Stingray supportsand it is also the beneficiary of the annualFlorida Strawberry Festival,” Baker said.The dealership has been involved withcharity raffles at the Festival for the pastfive years and has raised $385,000 forUnity in the Community. This year at thefestival was the first year Stingray raffled atruck, after giving away Camaros the firstthree years they were involved. The major-ity of funds are raised from raffle ticketsales, with additional money coming fromdonations from corporate sponsors. “Weraffled off a red 2013 Chevrolet Silverado1500 Extended Cab Z-71 4x4,” Bakersaid. “It is about a $45,000-$50,000 truckand we not only get local people enteringto win, we get entries from all over theUnited States.” A gentleman fromPalmetto, Florida won the truck. Healready had four vehicles and decidedhe didn’t need another one. Although,originally there was a “no cash valueoption” for the raffle, Hurley made anexception for the gentleman. He presented

Bob Baker is the Director of Fleet Operations forStingray Chevrolet. His department has been numberone in fleet sales for the state of Florida since 2009. By Libby Hopkins

him and his wife with a check for the valueof the truck during a presentation held thispast April. Also, in January of this year,Stingray Chevrolet and EnterpriseHoldings presented The Spring of TampaBay (www.thespring.org) a check for$2,500. The organization has an office inPlant City and since last year they havehelped over 2,400 individuals, including108 from the area, who needed shelter orother assistance due to domestic violence.

Donating to local charities is just one waythe dealership builds relationships. Theyalso strive to use local businesses as

vendors for the dealership. “Plant City isour primary market because it’s our back-yard,” Baker said. “We use local vendorsfor all our needs from vending machines totree trimming and we try to keep every-thing local when possible.”

If you would like to learn more aboutStingray Chevrolet and the different servic-es they offer, you can visit them on the webat wwwwww..ssttrriinnggrraayycchheevvrroolleett..ccoomm or call813-359-5420. The Plant City dealershipis located at 2002 N. Frontage Road. TheBartow dealership is located at 1475 WestHighway 60. •


Stingray Chevrolet has been part of the Plant City community since 2008. They are strong supporters of local charities, such as Unity in the Community

and The Spring of Tampa Bay.



One of the world’s fastest growingagricultural industries, goat farm-ing, is plagued by deadly intestinal

parasites, particularly the barber’s poleworm – a pest that poses great danger tothe goat-farming industry in theSoutheastern U.S. and other parts of theworld.

Improper use of commercial medicines hashelped make the parasites resistant to manydeworming drugs.

But recent research by the University ofFlorida’s Animal Sciences department maybe closing in on a solution. Althoughresearchers say it needs more study, they’verecently found papaya seeds to be an inex-pensive, alternative method for riddinggoats of their parasitic passengers.

Led by Adegbola Adesogan, a professor ofruminant nutrition, the study examined theeffect of natural food supplements onreducing intestinal worms in goats. Papayaseeds were found to be the most effectivetreatment, significantly reducing parasiteegg and adult counts.

“The beauty of using papaya seeds is they’reout there and we aren’t really doing muchwith them,” Adesogan said. “To find just

grinding the seeds and feeding a small quan-tity daily purges the parasites is, I think,very encouraging.”

The study, part of a master’s thesis byMiguel Zarate under Adesogan’s supervi-sion, compared supplementary lespedezahay, peanut hay, mucuna seed and papayaseeds in varied proportions for theirdeworming properties. Just 10 grams ofground papaya seed added to a base diet ofbahiagrass removed 78 percent of adult par-asites and 72 percent of their eggs. The nextmost effective treatment, a half-and-halfmixture of lespedeza and bahiagrass,reduced the adult worm count by 52 per-cent.

The use of papaya seeds or their derivativesmay also be useful someday for treatingparasites in cattle and other species, butmore experiments must be done to look atissues like residues, tissues and other possi-ble side effects before it is recommended forwidespread use, Adesogan said.

“I would say that this is very promising,” hesaid, “but we’re still in early days and weneed to do more work to develop it and toanswer these questions of side effects andwithdrawal times and safety.”

Adesogan said high concentrations ofcertain enzymes, alkaloids and cyanateswere the likely candidates for the papayaseeds’ success but the specific active ingredi-ent is yet to be confirmed. The amount ofprotein supplied by the papaya seeds waslow in relation to the other supplements andprobably had limited effect.

While UF/IFAS scientists aren’t ready yet toendorse papaya seed-supplemented diets forgoats, the study indicated that at least twoweeks would be needed to effectively reduceparasite populations in infected individuals.The papaya has a wide growth habitat intropical countries and some subtropicalareas like south Florida. In his nativeNigeria, Adesogan said, as in many tropicaldeveloping nations, papaya trees are every-where in the wild and in residential areas.

“You don’t have to rely on expensive equip-ment to process the seeds, because with justa small traditional grinding stone, farmerscould grind the small quantity for theiranimals,” Adesogan said. “This would be alocally available, homegrown kind ofremedy to solve this big problem.” •

By Andrew Kays

Papaya for Parasite-plagued

Goats


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The plant hormones called auxins arewell-known for stimulating develop-ment of roots and other structures,

and now University of Florida scientists haveshown that auxins help plants cope withenvironmental stresses.

The findings could lead to crop varieties thatbetter tolerate heat and salinity, said authorBala Rathinasabapathi, a professor with UF’sInstitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“Our findings show there’s a possibility ofmanipulating plant stress tolerance with

auxins,” Rathinasabapathi said. It may bepossible to administer auxins to crops atcritical stages of growth, he said, or possiblyengineer new varieties that respond to auxinsmore efficiently.

In the study, Rathinasabapathi and doctoralstudent Aparna Krishnamurthy comparedwild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants withmutant specimens that weren’t able to trans-port auxins through their tissues effectively.When subjected to oxidative stress, salt andhigh temperatures, the wild-type plants faredbetter than the mutants.

Next, the team will investigate whetherauxins could improve stress tolerance in riceplants. Rice is one of the world’s most wide-ly consumed staple crops and is subject toheat and drought damage.

The study was published online by the journal - Plant, Cell & Environment. •

University of Florida horticultural sciencesProfessor Bala Rathinasabapathi, left, and doctoralstudent Aparna Krishnamurthy, check Arabidopsisthaliana plants in Rathinasabapathi’s laboratory onthe UF campus in Gainesville – Friday, May 3, 2013.The two are researching plant hormones calledauxins that help plants cope with environmentalstresses. Their findings may aid development ofimproved crop varieties that better withstand heatand salinity. (UF/IFAS photo by Tyler L. Jones)

Auxins Could Help Crops Beat Heat and High Salinity by Tom Nordlie




In malaria-ridden parts of Africa, mos-quito netting protects people from beinginfected while they sleep, now, a

University of Florida entomologist wants toimprove the netting by coating it with insec-ticide toxic only to mosquitoes.

The insecticide would work by interferingwith an enzyme found in the nervous sys-tems of mosquitoes and many other organ-isms, called acetylcholinesterase. Existinginsecticides target the enzyme but affect abroad range of species, said entomologistJeff Bloomquist, a professor in UF’sEmerging Pathogens Institute and itsInstitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Acetylcholinesterase helps regulate nervoussystem activity by stopping electrical signal-ing in nerve cells. If the enzyme can’t doits job, the mosquito begins convulsing anddies. The research team’s goal is to developcompounds perfectly matched to the acetyl-cholinesterase molecules in malaria-trans-mitting mosquitoes, he said.

“A simple analogy would be that we’retrying to make a key that fits perfectly intoa lock,” Bloomquist said. “We want to shutdown the enzyme, but only in targetspecies.”

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes in theAnopheles genus, notably Anophelesgambiae, native to Africa. The disease iscommon in poor communities where homes

may not have adequate screens to keepflying insects out.

Malaria is caused by microscopic organismscalled protists, which are present in thesaliva of infected female mosquitoes andtransmitted when the mosquitoes bite.

Initial symptoms of the disease can includefever, chills, convulsions, headaches andnausea. In severe cases, malaria can causekidney failure, coma and death. Worldwide,malaria infected about 219 million peoplein 2010 and killed about 660,000, accord-ing to the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention. About 90 percent of thoseinfected lived in Africa.

Bloomquist and colleagues at Virginia Tech,where the project is based, are trying toperfect mosquito-specific compounds thatcan be manufactured on a large scale andapplied to mosquito netting and surfaceswhere the pests might land.

It will take at least four to five years beforethe team has developed and tested a com-pound enough that it’s ready to be submit-ted for federal approval, Bloomquist said.

The team recently published a study inthe journal Pesticide Biochemistry andPhysiology comparing eight experimentalcompounds with commercially availableinsecticides that target the enzyme.

“Though they were less toxic to mosquitoesthan commercial products, the experimen-tal compounds were far more selective,indicating researchers are on the righttrack,” he said.

“The compounds we’re using are not verytoxic to honeybees, fish and mammals, butwe need to refine them further, make themmore toxic to mosquitoes and safer for non-target organisms,” he said.

In the project, Bloomquist tests experimen-tal compounds on Anopheles gambiaemosquitoes, held in a quarantine facility onthe UF campus. He worked at Virginia Techfor 20 years and came to UF in 2009.Bloomquist joined the project at the behestof lead investigator Paul Carlier, a professorof organic and medicinal chemistry inVirginia Tech’s College of Science.

Funding for the project came from a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the NationalInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,part of the National Institutes of Health.

In Florida, malaria was a significantproblem in the early 20th century, transmit-ted by native Anopheles mosquitoes. Thedisease has been greatly curtailed via mos-quito- control practices but even today,cases are occasionally reported in theSunshine State. •

By Tom Nordlie

University ofFloridaHelping DevelopInsecticide toTarget Malaria-CarryingMosquitoes

Entomologist Jeff Bloomquist, a professor inthe University of Floridaʼs Emerging PathogensInstitute and the Institute of Food andAgricultural Sciences, in his laboratory on the

UF main campus in Gainesville – Wednesday,May 22, 2013. Bloomquist is part of a researchteam developing insecticides that kill mosqui-toes but are harmless to other organisms.

Bloomquist said the compounds could helpfight malaria, a serious problem in Africa.

UF/IFAS photo by Tyler L. Jones


University of Florida researchers havefound, for the first time, that crop mod-els predicting yields for one of the

world’s most important crops begin to disagreeunder climate change scenarios.

By knowing where those models breakdown, researchers will be better able toimprove them. The computerized modelspredict crop yields for wheat, one of theworld’s most-consumed foods.

Scientists use crop models to foresee whichparts of the world may face the greatestfood shortages, so that efforts to improvefood production can be directed to thoseplaces.

The researchers made the discovery by ana-lyzing the effectiveness of 27 wheat modelscreated by top scientists from around theworld under both normal and climatechange conditions. Their results are report-ed in a study published online this week bythe journal Nature Climate Change.

“What we found was that, if you gave themenough information, there are a lot of mod-els that can reproduce experimental datavery well,” said Senthold Asseng, an associ-ate professor in the UF agricultural andbiological engineering department and thestudy’s lead author.

“But when it comes to climate change,when we start manipulating the climate

data similarly to how climate change willplay out in the next 50 to 100 years, themodels started to disagree more and more,”said Asseng, a faculty member in UF’sInstitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.“And they started to disagree, particularlywith increasing temperatures and carbondioxide.”

Wheat, which accounts for 20 percent ofcalories consumed globally, is one of theworld’s three most important crops, alongwith rice and maize.

In the past 100 years, global temperatureshave risen by more than 1 degreeFahrenheit, according to the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency. Carbondioxide levels in the atmosphere haveincreased by nearly 27 percent in the last 55years to 400 parts per million, the highestlevel in about 2.5 million years, accordingto the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.Jim Jones, an emeritus distinguished profes-sor in the UF/IFAS agricultural and biologi-cal engineering department and a co-authorof the study, said crop models are essentialfor pulling information from many differentsciences into one place.

“As agricultural scientists we need tohave an understanding of how our foodsystems are going to respond to the futurechallenges associated with climate change,”Jones said.

Ken Boote, another co-author of the studyand emeritus professor in the UF/IFASagronomy department, said researchers arenow working together to improve theirmodels using information such as newtemperature data from different areas of theworld.

The research is part of AgMIP, or theAgricultural Model Intercomparison andImprovement Project, an international effortto assess crop models and understandclimate change’s impact on food production.

UF is one of three organizations, includingthe NASA Goddard Institute for SpaceStudies in New York City and the U.S.Department of Agriculture, leading theAgMIP project.

Principal investigators for AgMIP areCynthia Rosenzweig, based at the GoddardInstitute, Jones with UF/IFAS and JerryHatfield with the USDA’s AgriculturalResearch Service.

Asseng coordinated the wheat study withco-author Frank Ewert, a professor with theInstitute of Crop Science and ResourceConservation at the University of Bonn inGermany, and worked with scientists from15 countries to conduct the research. •

By Robert H. Wells

UF ResearchersFind WheatProduction ModelsDisagree UnderClimate Changes

Senthold Asseng, an associate professor inthe University of Florida Institute of Foodand Agricultural Sciencesʼ agricultural andbiological engineering department, is lead

author on a study that examined uncertainty inwheat yield models under climate change.Crop models are important tools to assessareas of the world where food security, or the

availability and access to food, is most criticalso that efforts to improve food production andaccess can be directed there.

UF/IFAS photo by Tyler L. Jones

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YANMAR 186 TRACTOR2WD, diesel, belly mower.$2,750 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

MASSEY HARRIS FERGUSON NO. 16 PACERWith belly mower$1950 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

KUBOTA L345 TRACTOR34hp, 2wd. $4,250 Call Alvie (813)759-8722

FORD 3400 INDUSTRIAL TRACTORWith loader, skid steer attached.$6,500 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

MASSEY FERGUSONGC2300 4 X 4 hydro stat transmission,2702 hrs. $4,750 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

BAD BOY CZT50Zero turn 26hp Kawasaki. 138 hrs.,Warranty. $4,995 Call Alvie813-759-8722

KUTOTA M1052 wheel drive, cab tractor with a/c,1700 hours. $23,000 call Rodney863-581-9396

USED EQUIPMENTMowers, disk, box blades & diskplows. Call Alvie TODAY!813-759-8722

MASSEY FERGUSON 65Diesel tractor with loader.$3,250 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

MASSEY FERGUSON 2102wd., diesel tractor. $3,750Call Alvie. 813-759-8722

FOR SALE

KITCHEN CABINETSAll wood kitchen cabinets.Call Tedd 813-752-3378

14KT GOLD AMMOLITE RINGUnique Multi-colored fossil gem with uniquemounting. Size 8 $250 or best offer.Call 863-370-8891

TOP GRADE TANZANITE RING 18KT GOLDTop grade, 18kt. Beautiful piece of jewelry. 1.05ktround nice blue gem with channel side diamonds.Size 7-1/2 $1,100 Call 863-370-8891

JOBS

CONTRIBUTING WRITERWrite about events in your community.Immediate openings in Hillsborough andPolk Counties. Paid per article.Responsibilities include covering communityevents and taking pictures. Email yourresume to [email protected]

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LAWN EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES

BRAND NEW HUSTLER RAPTOR Zero Turn Mower. 52" cut, 23 hp. Kawasakiengine, 3 year warranty. $2,999 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

RUBBER MULCHAll colors, buy 10 bags, get 1 FREE! $8.99 a bag. Call Ted 813-752-3378

MISC.

PRIVATE INVESTORWill consider any situation. 813-986-9141

REAL ESTATE

40 ACRESPlant City Strawberry Field. For lease or purchase. Call 813-833-7522

FOR SALE – 45 ACRES VACANT LAND(Pasco County) 45 acres are comprised of gently rolling hills with big trees & solid ground. A great setting for residential development. To the east of theproperty is a 60 acre parcel (Lake Gilbert) that adds significant aesthetic value to the 45 acres. Zoning: AR(Agricultural-Rural) Call Heidi Cecil for more informa-tion 863-899-9620

FOR LEASE24 Acre Farm 5" Well Gulf City & Willis Road.Ruskin FL. Call or email [email protected]

MOUNTAIN HOMELocated in Ellijay, GA. Private log sided home,2 berm, 2 baths, kitchen, dining, family room area,full partially completed basement, loft, front porch,back deck, A/C, furnished on 6 acres. Adjoing 4 acres available. $195,000863-287-3111. 1 hour from Atlanta.

2.66 ACRE NURSERY FOR SALE OR LEASEN. Lakeland with 1,000 sq ft frame house, 2 sheds,irrigation throughout. Call Bruce 863-698-0019

FOR LEASE15 acre for hay. State Road 70 & Vernon Road.Manatee County. Call or [email protected] 813-355-6274

JANE BAER REALTYLooking for that mountain getaway home?We have what you are looking for. Check out our website at www.janebaerrealty.com or callus toll free 800-820-7829. We are located inBlairsville GA, North Georgia Mountains!

Classifieds Tel: 813.759.6909 [email protected]



Documents

Hills web jun13