By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281Source(s):
Jimmy Cheek jgcheek@ifas.ufl.edu, (352) 392-1971
Jack Rechcigl rechcigl@ifas.ufl.edu, (813) 633-4111
Jay Taylor jaytomato@aol.com, (941) 729-3883
BALM, Fla.—The new $16 million, regional Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, part of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), will be dedicated April 1 during ceremonies at the facility in Hillsborough County.
The new center, authorized by the Florida Legislature in 2003, will house and combine programs of the 76-year-old Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Bradenton and a strawberry field laboratory at Dover near Plant City.
Faculty and staff at the center will conduct research on tomatoes and other vegetables, ornamental and flowering plants, and strawberries. The center will operate a regional diagnostic clinic to help growers identify and manage pest and disease problems on their crops. UF/IFAS faculty stationed at the Hillsborough Community College campus in Plant City will also conduct research at the center.
Jimmy Cheek, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, said the combined facility conforms to a legislative mandate to consolidate and regionalize the statewide UF/IFAS research and education network.
“The research and education program at the new center in Balm will help agriculture and natural resource industries remain competitive in a global economy, and maintain and enhance the quality of our natural resources,” Cheek said.
The center’s site was selected from two locations: one, near Duette in Manatee County, and the other, near Balm in Hillsborough County.
Jack Rechcigl, director of the center, said a 12-member committee of farmers and faculty provided advice on the two sites, which were offered free to UF/IFAS. The 475-acre Balm site was selected because it is best suited for a variety of agricultural and natural resource research and education projects. Hillsborough County also provided $422,500 to develop the site.
He said the site of the former Bradenton center was sold to the Manatee County School Board. Funds from the sale, along with the land and monetary donation from Hillsborough County and some state renovation funds, are the primary sources of funding for the new center. The 21-acre facility in Dover will revert to Hillsborough County.
The Bradenton center was originally established in 1925 to solve disease problems for local tomato growers. The Dover facility was also established in 1925 to conduct research on strawberry production.
Jay Taylor, president of Taylor and Fulton Inc. in Palmetto, Fla., and chairman of the center’s advisory committee, said research is key to the future of agriculture, and the new regional facility will provide growers with the technologies they need. “It’s a wonderful example of what we can do when the agricultural industry and UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences work together,” he said.
Cheek will preside at the dedication ceremonies, which begin at 10:30 a.m., and Rechcigl will introduce guests attending the event.
Charles Bronson, commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, will deliver the dedicatory address. Fla. Rep. Bill Galvano, District 68, will accept the facility for the State of Florida; Jim Norman, chairman of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, will accept the facility for the county; and Cheek will accept the facility for UF/IFAS. Rechcigl will accept the facility for faculty and staff and the center, and Taylor will accept it for the agricultural industry. Participants will tour the center after the dedication ceremony.
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