Leadership Bartow Agriculture Day Photos

Next we took the drive back to Bartow to visit the UF/IFAS Polk County Extension Office. Okay, just what is an extension office, you may ask. This office happens to be an easy partnership between the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), and the Polk County Board of County Commissioners.

Through Extension, Polk County citizens find answers to both every day and difficult issues in a diversity of topic areas, from lowering doctor visit frequency through better nutrition and physical activity, to planting a low water-use Florida yard, to protecting commercial fruit operations from pests and diseases; it's also a place for your children to stay safe and build their confidences through the 4-H program, or you may get a license to spray chemicals as a service for your small lawn and landscape business. They do a lot. Thanks to Dave Shibles, Bridget Carlisle, County Commissioner Melony Bell, and all the other speakers.

We got a chance to see a commercial wholesale plant nursery when we traveled almost to Fort Meade to see Sunshine Growers. Tim Walker took us on a great tour, which included the greenhouses. They are huge!

The last segment of our day included a tour of Clear Springs blueberry fields from Bill Braswell and a time of learning about bees from master beekeeper Robbie Bell. Although the blueberries are ripening, it will be April and May before the majority of the crops are picked. Robbie opened up a bee hive for us that he had provided to Clear Springs to pollinate their fields, and we got a look at a few thousand bees huddled together in the hive. We also got a look at a wild hog mother and her two babies. Precious!

Thank you, Robbie and Bill, for a great tour! And thanks to all our speakers for the day. Also, thanks to our day chairs, who helped us get the day organized: Scott Young, Danny Kushmer and Melony Bell. We were fortunate that Danny Kushmer of SWFWMD hung out with us all day and answered our many questions dealing with agriculture and water in Florida. We learned a lot, and I think we were all praying that the crops wouldn't freeze during the night, which is something we might not have thought about before our day of Agriculture.


Leadership Bartow Agriculture Day Photos Next we took the drive back to Bartow to visit the UF/IFAS Polk County Extension Office. Okay, just what is an extension office, you may ask. This office happens to be an easy partnership between the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), and the Polk County Board of County Commissioners. Through Extension, Polk County citizens find answers to both every day and difficult issues in a diversity of topic areas, from lowering doctor visit frequency through better nutrition and physical activity, to planting a low water-use Florida yard, to protecting commercial fruit operations from pests and diseases; it's also a place for your children to stay safe and build their confidences through the 4-H program, or you may get a license to spray chemicals as a service for your small lawn and landscape business. They do a lot. Thanks to Dave Shibles, Bridget Carlisle, County Commissioner Melony Bell, and all the other speakers. We got a chance to see a commercial wholesale plant nursery when we traveled almost to Fort Meade to see Sunshine Growers. Tim Walker took us on a great tour, which included the greenhouses. They are huge! The last segment of our day included a tour of Clear Springs blueberry fields from Bill Braswell and a time of learning about bees from master beekeeper Robbie Bell. Although the blueberries are ripening, it will be April and May before the majority of the crops are picked. Robbie opened up a bee hive for us that he had provided to Clear Springs to pollinate their fields, and we got a look at a few thousand bees huddled together in the hive. We also got a look at a wild hog mother and her two babies. Precious! Thank you, Robbie and Bill, for a great tour! And thanks to all our speakers for the day. Also, thanks to our day chairs, who helped us get the day organized: Scott Young, Danny Kushmer and Melony Bell. We were fortunate that Danny Kushmer of SWFWMD hung out with us all day and answered our many questions dealing with agriculture and water in Florida. We learned a lot, and I think we were all praying that the crops wouldn't freeze during the night, which is something we might not have thought about before our day of Agriculture.
Newsletter1 - February 23, 2015