Hello, Santa Rosa County. I’m Matheus “Matt” Pinhal, and I’m honored to be your new Agricultural Extension Agent with UF/IFAS.
Originally from Brazil, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering before coming to the United States to continue my education. I spent my first year working with soybean producers in the Midwest, where I learned quickly that I wasn’t built for that kind of winter. From there I moved south to complete my master’s degree in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences at Auburn University, working across cotton, peanut, corn, wheat, and soybean systems, the same crops that drive agriculture here in Santa Rosa County.
My focus is on the in-field decisions that shape a grower’s bottom line: weed and pest management, soil fertility, variety selection, fertilizer rates, and the inputs that pay off at harvest. I’m also interested in precision agriculture and the tools that help producers get more out of every practice. The way I see Extension’s role, it’s to be the bridge between research and the field, turning what’s proven in the trial plot into something a farmer can put to work on his own ground year after year. There is no farming without sustainability and profitability, and that’s the standard I want my work measured against.
Santa Rosa County is an incredible place to land. Not many places let you drive past row crop fields in the morning, walk through pine forest in the afternoon, and watch the sun set over the Gulf that evening. We’re home to roughly 730 farms working close to 90,000 acres, with 96% of those being family operations. Cotton covers nearly 20,000 acres and peanuts another 18,000 acres (USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture). Behind every one of those acres is a producer working through high input costs, tight commodity prices, and a season where the weather hasn’t followed the playbook.
Over the coming months I’ll be out on farms, meeting producers, and working with partners like Farm Bureau, NRCS, and the Soil and Water Conservation District. If you have a question, a problem in the field, or just want to introduce yourself, please reach out.
Contact: Matt Pinhal
UF/IFAS Santa Rosa County Extension Services
5259 Booker Ln,
Jay, FL 32565
Phone: (850) 977-9147
Email: mpinhal@ufl.edu
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