WHAT: Tour a hops yard. Find out how artificial intelligence helps farmers. Discover how UF/IFAS will help growers use fewer nutrients. Find out how plant breeding can help growers avoid diseases – all at this year’s Florida Ag Expo. The Expo, one of the largest in the state, will highlight the latest in technology and farming innovation.
Check here for the Expo agenda.
Highlights:
- A guided tour of the hops yard, where UF/IFAS researchers are growing the ingredient used to make craft beer, a burgeoning industry throughout Florida, including Tampa Bay.
- Scientists will talk about reducing disease susceptibility in strawberries and tomatoes.
- Learn about blackberry breeding and trials.
- Are artichokes a viable crop for Florida? Find out.
Best video and photo opportunities: 2:30 to 4 p.m. during the following tours:
- In addition to the hop yard, other researchers will venture into fields and greenhouses to show how they’re managing nematodes and diseases.
- You can also watch a scientist use smart-spray technology to apply herbicides. He uses a camera mounted to a tractor to find out precisely where the bad weeds are located. Then a machine sprays those weeds.
Interview opportunities will be available with scientists, center director Jack Rechcigl and growers by contacting Christine Cooley at ccooley@ufl.edu.
Expo also includes a large vendor show.
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Nov. 2.
WHERE: UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, 14625 County Road 672, Balm, Florida.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Christine Cooley, ccooley@ufl.edu.
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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