Farm City Week 2011

I had the opportunity of attending the Citrus Farm Bureau’s breakfast to celebrate Farm City Week at the Citrus Cattleman’s Educational Building in Floral City.  The event was attended by local farmers, business people, election officials and students from the Future Farmers of America.

The guest speaker was Dr. J. Stacy Strickland, Director of Hernando County Extension.  Dr. Strickland asked us if we thought there were more farms in Citrus and Hernando County in the 1950s or today?  He then shared the fact that we have over three times as many farms today as in the 1950s!  He asked the same thing regarding income that was generated in the counties from 1950s as compared with today.  The answer again was almost three times as much income is generated from agriculture today than in the 1950s.  Citrus County has over 700 farms alone!

This was an amazing breakfast where all local products were used to prepare it.  I must also add that it was a wonderful southern breakfast!  I  then topped it all off by drinking three cartoons of locally produced  M & B Dairy chocolate, strawberry and white milk. (Yummy!)

The breakfast was Citrus Farm Bureau’s opportunity to share with non-farmers (urban) community members’ information about how agriculture relates to us.  I sat with Lecanto High School Agricultural Teacher, Mr. Richardson, who brought several students to the breakfast whom are members of LHS Future Farmers of America.  Mr. Richardson talked about his students like a proud parent!  The students and Mr. Richardson shared about the many successes they had and some of the challenges that they are overcoming.  They are a most impressive group of young people.

We must be cognizant of how much agriculture plays a role in our lives, not simply by feeding our bellies but also by providing products necessary for our daily lives such as fuel, and many more.  Citrus County depends on agriculture more than most of us realize and it is very important that we actively support our local industries.

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