Scott Angle, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources and leader of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), recently marked his second year on the job. From the beginning, he emphasized his commitment to updating fertilizer recommendations in the state. We asked Angle about new fertilizer recommendations being developed for five key crops and why they are important.
Why are these fertilizer updates important to Florida agriculture and the crops specifically targeted with initial funding?
Angle: These updates are critical to the sustainability of Florida agriculture in both an economic and environmental sense. Nutrient recommendations based on today’s conditions will foster the efficiency growers need to remain profitable. At the same time, the updates will help Florida agriculture minimize the impact of farming on our water supply. Targeting tomatoes, potatoes, citrus, corn and green beans is just the start in a state with 300 commodities, but they represent crops where we can make substantial impact in a relatively short time.
The level of funding from the Legislature is impressive. What are your thoughts on this?
Angle: This funding is reflective of the Florida Legislature’s confidence in UF/IFAS research. The level of funding ($8.8 million via SB 1000) is a result of the vision and leadership of Sen. Ben Albritton (R-56). As a farmer, he knows that profitability and environmental protection go hand in hand. It can’t be just one or the other.
It has been noted these crops were overdue for updates on nutrient recommendations. Would you say this is common in other states and research institutions?
Angle: From my experience as the former director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, I can say that it is commonplace across the nation for growers to operate under outdated nutrient recommendations. Studies to revise recommendations are complicated and take several years each. But Florida has been and is a leader, so it’s no surprise that we are on the cutting edge of needed changes. The close connection we have to growers in Florida fostered the input we needed to identify the challenge, and a supportive Legislature provided the resources to investigate solutions. The wide variety and deep bench of expertise we have at UF/IFAS is greater than that in most states, as evidenced by the recognition of UF as a top-five public university and our National Science Foundation ranking as the nation’s leading university for research expenditures on agriculture, natural resources and conservation. All these factors contribute to putting Florida, once again, into the vanguard for agricultural advances.
Given the debate around nutrients and water quality, do you believe updating science is critical to be properly informed for the debate?
Angle: People have different viewpoints about food production and water quality. Diversity of opinion if fine, but to find common ground we need a common set of facts. We cannot rely on the science of 20 or 30 years ago to address today’s challenges. Would you want your kids to have science textbooks that tell them some day we will land on the moon? Conditions change, and the science needs to reflect that. Ask a citrus grower if his or her grove has different nutrient requirements than it did before HLB. Science has to be the basis of a productive discussion to get us past the false choice of economy versus environment.
Anything else that you would like to add?
Angle: Protecting water quality is everyone’s job. Agriculture recognizes it’s part of the problem and agrees it has to be part of the solution. Updating nutrient recommendations will help Florida farms, forests and ranches stay in business while protecting the natural resources that make agriculture possible in the first place. Many things make Florida special, but our water and our diverse agriculture are two things that really set us apart from most other places in the nation. Updating the science will give growers, policy makers, regulators and other Floridians the tools they need to make good policy decisions and keep Florida growing.
To read more about Florida’s Big Fertilizer Update, click here.
