GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida officials are in the final planning phase before launching an academy aimed at helping novice small farmers as well as those who just want to improve the small farm they have.
Ninety-three percent of Floridas 47,000 farms are classified by the federal government as small farms. But those farms earn less than one-fifth of the states agricultural receipts, said Nick Comerford, director of the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy.
Around the country, there is a similar split between small and large farms, he said, but nationally, small farmers are faring better than Floridas small farmers.
Helping change that was the impetus behind the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Small Farms Academy, said Comerford, the academys interim director. Officials hope to officially launch the academy in April and to have a full curriculum by July 1.
The academy will be initially based at the North Florida Research and Education Centers Suwannee Valley campus in Live Oak.
It will be a different kind of program very intensive and hands-on for a couple of days. We want them to have good materials they can take home and make part of their library and to just be ready to go home and do the work, he said.
IFAS extension officials offered a hands-on short course in March 2009 on starting a hydroponic-farming business that was well received, he said. And IFAS inaugural small-farms conference in August drew more than 800 people.
Source: UF/IFAS
