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More Florida farmers adding blackberries to their fields

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More Florida farmers adding blackberries to their fields


It’s blackberry season, and a Hillsborough County strawberry grower said he’s among the central Florida farmers adding blackberries to their crops with the help of University of Florida agriculture researchers.

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Blackberries are a new crop for Matt Parke. Now in their second blackberry growing season at Parkesdale Farms in Dover and Plant City, Parke said there was definitely a learning curve.

“Last year, I was kind of scratching my head thinking I made a big mistake. This is a big investment. I was like we might have made a mistake,” said Parke. “This year how everything happened, what the crop looks like, we’re going to do really well with it.”

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The fruit needs a lot of cold days, so Parke said he had to learn some tricks with spraying.

“It triggers it into thinking it’s been through a winter. And now it’s spring, let me open up and every bud that breaks is going to be like five or six berries on it,” said Parke.

Researchers with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are working to figure out which kinds of blackberries grow best in the Tampa Bay area. UF/IFAS’s Zhanao Deng, a plant breeder and professor at Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, said they are looking at a couple of blackberry varieties for central Florida, developing new varieties, pest control and other technologies to help farmers.

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READ: Celebrating the strawberry: Parkesdale Farm Market strawberry shortcake

“They will be born here. They will be evaluated and selected for Florida growers here,” said Deng.

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He said they’re working with more citrus and strawberry growers.

“They face a lot of challenges and competition from other countries, so they are interested in diversifying their crops,” said Deng.

Parkesdale Farms has some rows of UF’s blackberry breeds, and it could become more common.

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“I think it could be an emerging crop. There’s still some work that has to be done with it to fine tune the process for central Florida,” said Parke.

After the rise and fall of other fruit crops in Florida, blackberries show signs of a steadier future.

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READ: How Plant City’s ‘Strawberry Sue’ became a champion for Florida’s strawberry industry

“The blueberry market has totally crashed. Peru has flooded our market with the way they’re producing them year-round. You know, there used to be a lot of blueberry farms around here, but that’s all declined,” said Parke. “This is not over saturated yet. This commodity is not over saturated, and I want to capitalize on it while I can.”

Parke said the agriculture industry is always changing, and blackberries could make central Florida’s future in agriculture even sweeter.

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“You always gotta be looking forward and trying to evolve with the industry, and I think this is one way that we can evolve moving forward,” said Parke.

Parke said Parkesdale Farms fills about 4,000 to 5,000 boxes a week, and up to 15,000 boxes a week of blackberries during peak season. Parke said they currently ship blackberries to Canada, but they will look into adding Publix and Walmart into the mix.

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Rainy stretch continues in South Florida

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Rainy stretch continues in South Florida


South Florida is experiencing a prolonged stretch of wet weather as deep tropical moisture combines with a stalled frontal boundary across the region.

The result has been frequent showers, thunderstorms, periods of heavy rainfall, and localized flooding concerns from Broward to Miami-Dade and throughout the Keys.

The atmosphere is loaded with moisture, allowing storms to produce intense downpours in a short amount of time.

Some neighborhoods have already seen several inches of rain, with additional rounds of showers and thunderstorms expected through the end of the week.

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Flood-prone streets and poor drainage areas remain especially vulnerable during the heaviest rainfall.

While the rain is helping ease drought conditions, it is also increasing the risk of flash flooding and travel delays.

South Florida is two weeks into its rainy season, when abundant heat and humidity combine to generate daily rounds of showers and thunderstorms.

Heavy rainfall, frequent lightning, and gusty winds are common features of this time of year.

The good news? Drier air will gradually filter into parts of the region heading into the weekend, allowing rain chances to slightly decrease. Until then, keep the umbrella handy and be prepared for sudden tropical downpours.

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Man accused of kidnapping woman at Wawa in Central Florida

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Man accused of kidnapping woman at Wawa in Central Florida


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A man is in custody after deputies said he tried to kidnap a woman at a Wawa near Winter park. Per investigators, Matthew Seaberg approached the victim from behind, picked her up by the waist, and threw her into his truck.



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Jury selection continues in fatal boat crash trial of South Florida real estate mogul George Pino

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Jury selection continues in fatal boat crash trial of South Florida real estate mogul George Pino


MIAMI — A new group of prospective jurors was questioned Tuesday in the trial of South Florida real estate mogul George Pino, who is charged in connection with a 2022 boat crash that killed a teenager in Miami-Dade County.

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During jury selection in a Miami-Dade courtroom, Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez asked potential jurors what they already knew about the case and whether they had recently seen or heard anything about it.

Several prospective jurors said they knew only basic details, including that a fatal boating crash occurred and that a teenage girl died. Others said they recalled media reports that alcohol may have been involved.

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As questioning continued, some prospective jurors disclosed connections to schools and communities tied to the case.

Passengers aboard Pino’s boat included his wife, his teenage daughter and 11 of her friends, many of whom attended private schools in Miami-Dade County.

One prospective juror said they graduated from a local private school around the time of the crash and were familiar with some of the students involved.

Another said references to schools and witnesses brought back memories of seeing posts and articles about the incident shared on social media.

A third said their child participates in youth sports with students from schools connected to the case.

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Investigators said the boat struck a channel marker while returning from an outing on Biscayne Bay. Seventeen-year-old Lourdes Academy student Lucy Fernandez drowned after the crash.

Tinkler Mendez also addressed concerns that a prospective juror had been viewing a news report about the case on a cellphone while waiting outside the courtroom.

Another prospective juror reported hearing the report but said it was not loud enough for everyone in the area to hear.

Tinkler Mendez reminded prospective jurors to avoid news coverage and social media discussions related to the case as jury selection continues.

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