Florida
More Florida farmers adding blackberries to their fields
More Florida farmers growing blackberries
Parkesdale Farms in Hillsborough County is among the growers now producing blackberries with help from researchers at The University of Florida.
PLANT CITY, Fla. – 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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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TAMPA, Fla – New SNAP restrictions will start Monday in Florida.
What we know:
These changes will ban the purchase of many sugary sodas, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed, shelf-stable prepared desserts.
Hunger Free America, an advocacy group, is against these restrictions.
Joel Berg, the CEO, said some regulation is a good thing, but he wants to see it support access to healthy foods as a choice.
“We do support mandates to mandate that healthier food is available in stores that do accept SNAP,” Berg said. “So, it makes a lot more sense to make it easier to get healthier food.”
Berg said these restrictions are unnecessary in achieving a healthier America.
“We should make America healthier again by making healthy food more affordable, convenient and physically available,” Berg said. “We shouldn’t micromanage the eating patterns of adults to try to achieve that goal.”
The other side:
This is part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “Under the MAHA initiative, we are taking bold, historic steps to reverse the chronic disease epidemic that has taken root in this country for far too long.”
What they’re saying:
Berg said that these changes, on top of cuts to the program nationwide, will increase hunger.
“It’s not that low-income Americans don’t want healthier food; it’s that they can’t afford healthier food,” Berg said.
This coincides with the announcement that there will be cuts to WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which supplies food to mothers and young children.
“President Trump’s budget just announced that he’s proposing taking away fruits and vegetables from the WIC program for pregnant women and children under five,” Berg said. “So, they’re taking away healthier food.”
The WIC cuts would take away $1.4 billion in fruit and vegetable benefits from 5.4 million people.
Big picture view:
The SNAP changes come as part of the MAHA movement and include more than 20 other states that will implement changes over the next two years.
The Source: Information in this story comes from WIC, SNAP and interviews done by Fox 13’s Danielle Zulkosky.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The engines are revving for one final day of high-stakes bidding and family fun at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction reaches its grand finale today with an action-packed “Super Saturday” lineup, promising to close out the weekend with a full slate of collector car sales, live entertainment, and fan attractions.
“Super Saturday,” presented by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, officially kicks off at 8 a.m. when gates, food courts, and the exhibitor marketplace open to the public.
What to expect
- 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: The Fantasy Bid presented by Dodge begins early, running in tandem with the automobilia auction in the arena.
- 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Thrill-seekers can catch Dodge thrill rides on the Barrett-Jackson Performance Track.
- 10:00 a.m.: New amenities open to the public, including the Stella Artois, Staging Lanes, and Food Court patios, which offer shaded seating and auction views.
- 10:45 a.m.: The national anthem will be performed in the auction arena, signaling the start of the main collector car auction at 11 a.m.
- Afternoon Entertainment: DJ sets run from noon to 5 p.m. across the various patios, and a detailing clinic by Adam’s Polishes is scheduled for 2 p.m. near the South Showcase.
For those unable to attend, the whole event will be livestreamed throughout the day on the Barrett-Jackson website and the HISTORY channel from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Today’s finale comes on the heels of a high-energy Friday that saw significant sales and notable celebrity interest.
Star power was evident throughout the day, particularly with vehicles tied to the Busch family. A 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible owned by Samantha Busch and a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 Custom Coupe were among the day’s heavy hitters, each fetching $159,500. Kyle Busch’s 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Coupe also drew a strong bid, selling for $143,000.
Other Friday highlights included:
- 1968 Ford Mustang Eleanor Replica: $137,500
- 2004 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Mamba Edition: $132,000
- 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Custom SUV: $126,500
- 1957 Ford Thunderbird Custom Convertible: $121,000
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With a festival-style atmosphere and high-profile sales driving momentum, organizers expect a busy crowd for the final push at the auction block today.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A quiet Monday turned into a frantic race against time when a deputy stepped in to save a choking 1-year-old’s life.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call about a 1-year-old baby choking. Upon arrival, the responding deputy performed life-saving procedures to help the child breathe again.
See also: Two arrested after 6-year-old arrives at Florida school with bruises, deputies say
Body camera video shows a deputy holding the baby, flipping it over on its stomach, and beginning to pat the baby’s back.
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When the baby begins to cry, the deputy is heard saying, “he’s good.”
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