Florida

Farm families from across the nation donated 25.3 million pounds of food and raised more than $1 million to help fight hunger in 2022 through Farm Bureau's "Harvest for All" program.  Combined, the monetary and food donations totaled the equivalent of 31.1 mi...

The H-2A program continues to grow in popularity, or necessity, in farm country.  American agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers can fill seasonal farm jobs with temporary foreign workers through the H-2A Visa Program.  The Dep...

According to ERS, American farmers who want to hire temporary foreign workers through the H-2A visa program usually work with a third party.  The new data announced this week indicated the third parties, such as agents, associations or a lawyer, are used to make the applications.  Employe...

If Republicans take back a Congressional majority in November, Florida Representative Mike Waltz pledged that the House GOP would investigate the flow of Chinese money into the U.S. economy.  Waltz told Daily Mail that the steady encroachment not only poses a military threat but could also have wide-ranging impacts on the American economy.  Re...

Labor remains a top concern for the tree fruit industry.  The American Fruit Growers held its annual State of the Industry survey, and on the farm labor was a big topic in the survey, and one-third of the respondents say it’s not an issue for them, at least not yet.  For the remai...

A pair of House lawmakers this week introduced the SHIP IT Act, seeking to address the supply chain backlog in the freight network at U.S. ports. Introduced by Republican Representatives Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota and Byron Donalds of Florida, the legislation builds on the STOP the GRINCH Act introduced last fall ...

A rise reported it U.S. orange crop production by less than 1%, per USDA's latest crop production forecast. The main factor was an 8% increase in California's all orange crop year over year, by over 51 billion boxes. In addtion, "California's non-Valencia's went from 39 million to 43 million [from the previous year" noted NASS' Mark Hudson ...

A letter obtained by Politico indicates the USDA will not open CRP acres for crop production. In a letter to the National Grain and Feed Association, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Quickly converting this land to crop production is clearly unfeasible.” Vi ...

Another cut in potential orange production in Florida. USDA's crop report on Wednesday slicing another 2% off its previous orange production forecast; new estimate at 43.5 million boxes. That would 18% below last season's crop.  But, the surveys of that crop were done before the big freeze hit the orange grove January 28th through the 30th. ...

On Sunday, the American Farm Bureau Federation and Nestle Purina PetCare announced a Florida Border Collie as this year’s Farm Dog of the Year. Owner Cindy Deak said "Fit" is a big help on their operation. "She’s a working farm dog and she teaches other dogs how to herd. She probab ...