News // General

February 7th and 13th, 3 – 5 p.m. UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station 552 1st Street, Cedar Key, FL Eligible clam farmers and businesses that were affected by Hurricane Idalia are able to receive funding to cover wages, clean up, recovery, and more. Attend one of two information sessions to learn how CareerSource of Citrus Levy Marion Counties can offset the expense of restoring your operation–at no cost to you. Here’s what you’ll learn about: 1) How disaster assistance programs can help you pay your workers, 2) How this funding can be used in clean up and recovery efforts. If

Aquatic farmers who have not completed the 2023 Census of Aquaculture conducted by US Department of Agriculture have until March 1 to do so. The Census can be completed online at USDA – National Agricultural Statistics Service – Surveys – Census of Aquaculture. Last conducted for production year 2018, the Census of Aquaculture will yield current industry-specific data. This information is used by federal, state, and local governments, agribusinesses, trade associations, and producers to make decisions impacting the sustainability and growth of the US aquaculture. The data is also used to support and justify federal and state research, education, extension,

To all Cedar Key Clam Growers, Please take a few minutes to complete a brief survey at your earliest convenience. Information about this survey can be found below. We would like to have responses back by January 22nd. Click on this link to open the survey https://forms.gle/2xH7ov7XMXq3vrFEA.  If you have any questions or problems accessing the survey link, contact Leslie Sturmer at Lnst@ufl.edu or Rose Cantwell at cantwellrr@bellsouth.net.

A new Shellfish Pilot Crop Insurance Program is now available through the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). Oyster growers in Franklin and Wakulla Counties are eligible in this pilot program for protection against losses due to named storms, excessive heat during a low tide event, freeze during a low tide event, or low salinity due to excessive rainfall. The deadline to sign up for crop year 2024 is November 30. To learn more, join a meeting being hosted by Auburn University on Thursday, November 16 at 6 pm EST via Zoom. Nicole Gueck, formerly with AgriLogic Consulting, the firm that

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, from 9 a.m. to noon, a Farmers Recovery Center will be open at the Dixie County Public Library at 16328 SE US-19 in Cross City.

The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced that oyster producers are now eligible for protection against losses due to named storms, excessive heat during a low tide event, freeze during a low tide event, or low salinity due to excessive rainfall. The new Shellfish Crop Insurance Pilot Program is an actual production history-price component (APH-PC) coverage policy for container-grown oysters commercially cultivated for the fresh half shell market. This new program will be available beginning with the 2024 crop year, and producers have until November 30 to purchase this policy. For the APH-PC coverage policy, the producer selects the percentage

The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP) can provide shellfish growers with catastrophic coverage for losses due to natural disasters. The deadline to sign-up for these programs and provide an acreage report is September 30 for coverage of crop year 2024. Since this date falls on a weekend, the deadline is extended to October 2. Both programs are serviced by your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. To find your county office, go to https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Florida/index. See fact sheets for NAP and ELAP for more information.   For NAP, clam growers are required

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm on August 30, 2023. According to the National Hurricane Center, Idalia brought a storm surge as high as 16 feet and severe winds. Florida’s shellfish growers in Levy and Dixie Counties. What is uncertain is if shellfish growers will be eligible for EQIP to assist in removing obstacles from their leases and restoring submerged lands to pre-storm conditions. We are currently working with the NRCS program leader to determine edibility. The application sign-up deadline is November 17, 2023. USDA FSA Meeting for