Florida’s agriculture is not visible to 80 percent of Floridians. Many never leave our coastal areas; and when they do, they seldom venture beyond Florida’s freeways and airports.

This is not all bad, as mostly ag wants to be left alone to do what we are very good at doing – providing food and fiber for our nation. But it is not all good either, because most Floridians do not understand the system in which their food is produced.

Florida is seventh in the nation in ag production. We have a diversity of climates and soils and produce over 250 different crops and livestock.

We’re first in the nation in citrus; even after canker and greening, California isn’t close. There are approximately 80 million citrus trees in Florida. We’re also first in sweet corn, clams, squash, sugarcane, ornamental fish, and indoor foliage. We’re second in bell peppers, horses, floriculture, cucumbers, nursery stocks, snap beans, egg plants, and all specialty crops.

One Florida ranch owns the largest brood cow herd in North America, and we are also home to four of the nation’s largest cow-calf operations. We export to over 100 countries worldwide. Our economic impacts amount to over $76 billion.

So what are we asking of the Legislature in 2013?

First, please do no harm to IFAS

Research, technology development and education have transformed not only Florida but the entire nation from an agrarian society, where most resources were allocated to the production of food, to a society where only 2% of the population is needed to produce our entire food supply. And we do it for less than 10 cents on the dollar and with a very narrow profit margin.

England does it for 22 percent. Germany’s is 21 percent. Japan’s is 26 percent, and India’s is 51 percent. America’s food cost is the lowest of all nations. Land grant university programs, like IFAS are the reason. To Florida’s agricultural community, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, is our rock star!

IFAS constantly strives to keep one step ahead of the problems that we face. They help us by developing new plant varieties that yield more with reduced inputs, with constantly changing markets due to changes in consumer preferences, with competition, with globalization, and with improvements in technology.

One important example is irrigation technologies and plant varieties that require less water. Citrus and tomato crops use less water than they did 20 years ago, thanks to changes in the way we irrigate.

There was a time when Florida had no blueberry industry, a crop that required a certain amount of cold in order to produce. Because of IFAS work in genetics, they developed a blueberry that requires less cold. Now Florida has a significant blueberry industry that supplies this product when nowhere else in the world can supply it, taking advantage of a market window.

IFAS works every day to find a solution to citrus greening and tens of dozens of other pest and diseases that find their way here. Every industry has a success story to tell, and IFAS is often the star in these stories.

Second, please do no harm to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

One example within DACS is the Office of Agricultural Water Policy, which develops our Best Management Practices, addressing both water quality and water quantity. This office works cooperatively with agricultural producers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, IFAS, and the Water Management Districts to develop and implement BMP programs that are economically and technically feasible.

BMPs are used to reduce the amount of pesticides, fertilizers, animal wastes, and other inputs and outputs that may enter our water resources. They increase water-use efficiencies. They benefit water quality and water conservation while maintaining or even enhancing ag production.

Third, please provide a stable regulatory atmosphere for our businesses.

Because we are so few, because many of our governmental bodies are looking for ways to increase revenue, and because there are people in our society who would just rather we didn’t do business at all in Florida, agriculture is constantly faced with an onslaught of rules, ordinances, regulations and fees.

A good example was when a county required a permit and fee before repairing a downed fence. Little thought was given as to the safety problems of cattle on the highway, while the farmer was down at the courthouse. A city decided to impose stormwater fees on a commercial timber tract, when that timber owner was already engaged in BMPs for his water runoff. This resulted in a duplication of regulation and costs for this timber owner’s operations. We asked the Legislature to help in both of these examples.

Finally, we ask the Legislature to be very careful when dealing with Florida’s greenbelt laws.

Greenbelt is the backbone of Florida’s ag industry, and the property taxes that farmer’s pay. It is a land- use classification – not an exemption – and an assessment based on the land’s production value, rather than its market value.

Greenbelt provides a lower tax rate and recognizes that ag lands consume a fraction of the public services that homeowners do. Cows don’t need schools, nor do crops need the same level of fire protection. Government services to ag farm land amount to about 25 cents for every tax dollar paid.

This is compared to homeowners, who receive about $1.50 for their tax dollar. Preservation of the greenbelt classification is critical to the sustainability of Florida’s ag lands.

Regulations, taxes and fees cost money; and most costs are usually passed on to the consumer. In agriculture, though, there is a time lag where the farmer has to eat the costs.

Our products are sold at market as perishables, and most Florida products are perishables (specialty crops) that cannot be stored like the mid-western (commodity) crops. You can store most corn and wheat, but you cannot store fresh fruits and vegetables for long. When our crops come into harvest, we take what the market offers. We do not set our prices. We are price takers, not price makers.

Also for Florida agriculture, there are little if any subsidies. Again, we are a specialty crop state; and we are blessed with the climate and soils to grow high value crops. The commodity crops are low value

crops, and most are subsidized because of their value in storage. The kings in the Bible stored crops for droughts and to maintain civil order. Our commodity crops are America’s system for doing the same. When the masses are underfed, civil disorder quickly follows.

Agriculture in Florida manages over 25 million acres of ag land, including the vast forests of north Florida. There are over 45,000 farms, nurseries, ranches and forest operations, where 36 percent of the principal operators are women. The largest farms are in Central and South Florida in a belt that reaches from Hillsborough down across to Palm Beach County, the 15th biggest ag producing county in the nation.

This system of food production in America has freed millions of acres of land for other human enterprises. It has freed millions of people to produce items and services other than food. It has liberated millions of dollars to spend on activities and services other than food, such as travel (vacations), health care, clothing and our homes. It has freed time and land and dollars. Agriculture is the base on which our entire country’s economy stands.

Agriculture continues to grow in Florida, because our farmers continue to adapt. Because we only make up about 2 percent of the population, our changes go mostly unnoticed. Our plea to the Legislature is to realize that this industry is a complicated and industrial system.

Please do no harm. All of America depend on our products.