With close to 100 participants split between its online and in-person conference offerings, the Food and Resource Economics Department hosted its annual Florida Agricultural Economics & Policy Outlook Conference this March at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, FL.
Experts from the UF Food and Resource Economics department and across the country provided insights into issues facing Florida agriculture. This was the eighth year the department hosted the day-long speaker series designed to address the most pressing issues expected to impact Florida agriculture currently and in the upcoming year.
Speakers from FRE and other experts covered a variety of topics, including changes to the legislature in the upcoming year, such as the Farm Bill, which will undergo its regular five-year renewal and revision this year.
New to this year’s conference was a split-session format, which allowed participants to choose and rotate between concurrent sessions focusing on Production Issues and Environmental Economics, respectively.
“When looking at the diversity of important issues facing Florida agriculture in 2023, we knew that we needed to expand our offerings,” said Derek Farnsworth, associate professor of Food and Resource Economics at UF and organizer for the conference.
The Production Economics track provided specialty crop outlooks for Citrus, Vegetables and Berries, and Tropical Fruits. Meanwhile, the Environmental Economics track explored topics of freshwater conservation, conservation practices adoption, and stakeholder preferences for managing invasive aquatic species in Florida public lakes.
“I’d like to thank the speakers for their informative presentations and the audience for their high level of engagement and thought-provoking discussion,” Farnsworth said. “I think this was our best conference yet, and we look forward to hosting an even better conference next year.”
Visit https://fred.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/florida-agricultural-policy-outlook-conference/ to learn more about the conference, and receive information about our ninth annual conference, scheduled for Friday March 24, 2024, as it becomes available.
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