This article was published in the October 2012 edition of Central Florida AgNews Magazine

What Connects UF/IFAS with Florida Farmers

by  JACK PAYNE, Sr. VP for Agriculture and Natural Resources, UF/IFAS

Teaching, research, and outreach are the core of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), which is a premier institution within the land-grant university system.  But it is the research that is the red thread that connects UF/IFAS with the production of food, biofuel, and the responsible stewardship of Florida’s natural resources.

This article was published in the October 2012 edition of Central Florida AgNews Magazine

Eucalyptus, Sugar Cane and Other Crops Get an Agritechnology Makeover

by CHERYL ROGERS

In Frostproof, Phillip Rucks Nursery is growing half a million Eucalyptus trees.  Although Eucalyptus trees currently are marketed for garden mulch, the fast-growing hardwood is poised for a potential broad new market . . . as biomass for an electrical generating facility.

In the Lake Placid area, London-based British Petroleum is cultivating 1700 acres of high-fiber/low sugar, sugar cane as well as Elephant grass in preparation for “one of the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels facilities,” company officials say. They are expecting to plant 2,000 more acres this fall in advance of the 36-million gallon plant.