Before You "Buy the Farm"- Call Your Local Extension Office!

Learning pasture management from Yoana Newman in a field of perennial peanut. — Yoana Newman discusses forage grass at a small farms workshop. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones

The Small and Beginning Farmers Mini Conference, recently hosted by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension Indian River County office, imparted a wealth of pertinent agricultural advice and meaningful connections for those residents of Indian River County who attended. This event was sponsored by Indian River County Soil and Water Conservation District (IRSWCD). Link to https://indianriverswcd.org.

Topics discussed covered a wide range of subjects, such as:

Property tax Agricultural Exemption in Indian River County
Enrolling in FDACS Best Management Practices program (BMP)
USDA’s (United States Department of Agriculture’s) “Cost Share Programs”
Hydroponic towers. Small farming, hydroponics, alternative farming. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.
Pasture Management
Marketing Your Agricultural Business
Florida Farm Bureau Federation and Agriculture law, rules, and regulations
What is agritourism?
Soil & Water Conservation District
Making a Business Plan – before you “buy the farm”

Conference speakers were highly knowledgeable in each of their fields, some with decades of valuable experience to impart. Several local agricultural business owners spoke about the need for pasture improvement and how to take advantage of state and federal agricultural programs to improve your business, and why you should.

Your County & Tax Exemptions

Billy Auton, from the Indian River County Property Appraiser’s office, explained why the first thing you should do is file for your Agricultural Property Tax Exemption. This could save your agricultural business thousands of dollars in property taxes each year!

Present and former County Extension Agricultural Agents were on hand from several Florida counties. These included:

C. Kelly-Begazo, former UF/IFAS Extension IRC director, and Linda Caggiano, of IRCSoil & Water Conservation District. Photo by Olivia Zugay

Andrea Lazzari – Indian River County Ag/Natural Resources agent and County Extension Director
Christine Kelly-Begazo – former Indian River County Ag agent and County Extension Director
Joe Walter – Brevard County Ag agent
Ashley Stonecipher – Volusia County Ag agent
Anna Meszaros – Palm Beach County Vegetables and Tropical Fruit Agent

Farmers who have successfully run their agricultural businesses for decades imparted their knowledge through slides, workshops, and question/answer sessions.

Vegetable grower, Ramon Angeles, setting out his produce under a canopy at a farmers market in Gainesville, Florida. — Vegetable grower, Ramon Angeles at a farmers market. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones

Agriculture & Conservation Go Together

Soil and Water Conservation District sponsored this conference, which supplied coffee, snacks, and lunch for all attendees throughout this one-day event. There were even UF/IFAS Extension publications available, for free, to all who needed them.

These included the 2024-2025 UF/IFAS Extension Vegetable Production Handbook and the UF/IFAS Florida Direct Marketing Handbook.

As with any business venture, you should always start with a plan. Many people dream of retiring to Florida. And some who do, want to try their

Female farmer sorting a tray of tiny seed-clams. — Leslie Sturmer handling Small seed clams. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones

hand at running a small farm business. But, as was stressed repeatedly in this event, you should really start with a business plan.

Think about how you will market your product and ask yourself the tough questions:

What will my product be?
Are you going to grow vegetables, produce bamboo for building supplies, raise angora rabbits or flax for fiber, or will you raise cattle or other livestock?
How will you sell that product?
Florida Farm Bureau representative, Kendall Bauer, at the Small & Beginning Farmers’ Mini Conference September 12, 2024
Do you have connections for those sales?
Can you afford an accountant?
Will you use social media platforms for marketing?
Have you drawn up a plan for your business website and looked at the cost of doing so?

These questions should all be thought through before buying those 10 acres. And when you do buy your piece of Florida land, your local county Extension Office will be a source you can continually turn to for research-based information on crops and livestock, as well as for soil and water testing.

Growers’ Handbooks from the University of Florida

UF/IFAS Extension’s Vegetable Production Handbook was provided for all who wanted a copy of this soft-cover-bound volume. It combines all the current UF/IFAS EDIS research-based vegetable production documents into one volume. Similarly, there is a reference volume for Citrus Production.