Producer Profitability

Priority Actions:

Profitability | Economic Development | Marketing | Trade | Invasive Species Control | Consolidation | Education  

Conclusion: Need to find ways to initiate economic development efforts to retain and capitalize on existing agricultural activities.

Suggested Actions : Here are several ways in which this might be done:

Assist in implementing recommendations of Florida's Growth Management Study Commission regarding the promotion of rural economic development (see recommendation 83; "A Liveable Florida for Today and Tomorrow," Florida's Growth Management Study Commission, Final Report, February 15, 2001, p. 39, available for download at http://www.floridagrowth.org). These recommendations include:

Establish a technology outreach program to support rural local governments, farmers and small businesses in taking advantage of the Internet and other technology advances.

Amend the revenue sharing provisions of Chapter 212, Florida Statutes, to provide a disproportionate increase in the allocation of state revenue to rural counties in recognition of their inherently lower ad valorem tax base.

Consider initiatives to assist rural communities in developing and diversifying local economies such as:

directing Enterprise Florida and the Office of Tourism Trade and Economic Development to include rural communities in their outreach efforts for expanded and improved economic development; 

supporting and further publicizing the Main Street Program (Department of State);

offering technical assistance and other support services for small business development and entrepreneurial activity in rural areas; 

encouraging environmentally sensitive eco-tourism and heritage tourism in rural areas;

capitalizing on and enhancing the sustainability features of rural areas, including local food production, environmental resources and the potential for distributed energy resource technologies.

Create strategies to engage local economic development agencies in recognizing and expanding on the economic value of agriculture to South Florida.

Gather information on the economic contributions of agriculture to the region as a whole and to each county economy in South Florida;

  Explore ways in which this value can be expanded and more of each food dollar can be captured by local economies (one way this can be done is by adding value to each commodity by taking additional steps after harvest to prepare the product for market – say, by adding facilities to pack and ship fresh tomatoes and/or to turn tomatoes that do not meet fresh market standards into tomato paste, salsa or another product that's ready to use by a restaurant or ready to sell on a grocer's shelf);

Foster the development of businesses that will add value to existing crops and products, offer new ways of selling existing crops and products, open new markets, grow specialty crops, and/or produce new commodities and products;

Emphasize local opportunities for adding value to existing crops and products; growing specialty foods; processing Caribbean and off-shore produce; establishing new markets, niche markets and new crops; and expanding tropical fruit industry, equine industry, aquaculture industry and other existing industries.

  Improve support to individual owners and operators who wish to establish and expand agricultural operations;

Expand visibility of South Florida produce at conventions and trade shows;

Promote the region's agricultural heritage, the diversity of its agricultural products, and the importance of these products to consumers in Florida, the U.S., Canada and the rest of the world.

Consider launching prototype programs to: 

Establish cooperatives to assist small- and medium-size growers;

Offer inducements and incentives to ag-related businesses and suppliers that are willing to expand, diversity or locate in South Florida.

[Note: It will be important that these steps are carried out with full cooperation and input from the agricultural industry. Thomas E. Rew, General Manager of Hayman's 711 Ranch says: "While I welcome any help we can get to increase ... demand, I believe it must come from within the industry. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of asking government to encourage the expansion of any agricultural enterprise."

[Tim W. Williams also commented on this approach. He agreed that agriculture and its importance to the economy should be ACKNOWLEDGED by all existing economic development agencies and efforts in the state. But his fear is that, when some well-meaning person or agency who knows nothing about agriculture tries to help, agriculture often ends up worse off than when it is ignored. 

[Instead, Williams feels that economic development efforts should be established that are targeted specifically to agriculture — and are operated by people intimately familiar with agriculture. They should be devoted to carrying out the approaches listed above. These efforts should be given the full cooperation of all existing economic development agencies, and provided with as much financial and promotional support as possible.]

Recommendation:

Who: Florida Department of Agriculture (DOACS) Marketing Division; Enterprise Florida; Governor's Office on Tourism, Trade and Economic Development (OTTED) and University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), in cooperation with ag groups.
What: Need coordinated regional effort. DOACS should map out strategy to link up with Enterprise Florida, OTTED, IFAS and every economic development agency in South Florida to create and support concrete steps to expand the economic contribution of agriculture to the region.