Now she’s getting some help with that message from the state of Florida.

The Florida Department of Agriculture unveiled its Fresh for Florida Kids Garden in Tallahassee on Monday. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam crouched down along with the children and they used their hand shovels to plant some soybeans in one section of the garden.

It’s growing a variety of Florida fruits and vegetables. Putnam calls it an outdoor classroom that highlights healthy eating habits for schoolchildren.

Did you know half of your plate is supposed to be filled with fruits and veggies? Putnam says that’s one of the lessons the Kids Garden aims to teach.

“We know that there is a strong connection between good nutrition and academic success and we know that when kids connect where their foods come from they’re more likely to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. They’re more likely to develop lifelong healthy eating habits and so this is just one example of that.”

The garden is laid out in the shape of a plate to reflect the federal government’s new model for the five food groups, My Plate. It’s located at the Holland Building, the headquarters for Florida’s new Office of Food, Nutrition, and Wellness. It oversees four million meals for schoolchildren across the state each day.

Putnam hopes children from across the state will tour the Kids Garden when they visit Tallahassee.

“I think lesson plans that get kids outside and let them combine math and science and health and nutrition in lessons like this that allow them to have experiences, I think that makes a lasting impression.”

The incidence of obesity among children and adults is on the rise. It’s estimated 60 percent of the nation’s health care costs are spent on diet-related illness, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Putnam hopes examples like the Kids Garden help teach healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.

“If we can start to bend that cost curve early through projects like this, and eating healthier in the school lunch program and school breakfast program, then we’re developing healthier lifestyles, we’re lowering health care costs for all of society and we’re going to have a more fit society, a healthier society.”

Posted on: wtsp.com
Author: Dave Heller
Read more:

Floridians who do not wish to receive sales calls may subscribe residential, mobile or paging device telephone numbers to the program. Go to www.fldnc.com to subscribe.

The fee, previously $10 for a new subscription, and $5 for renewal, was removed as a result of legislation passed this year. It is illegal for solicitors to make calls to phone numbers on the list.

Posted on: palmbeachpost.com
Read More

In announcing Friday that he will allow the bill to become law effective July 1, Gov. Rick Scott expressed mixed feelings on the pro-business legislation due to the addition of targeted tax credits that he threatened to later try to repeal if they don’t work as advertised.

“While I support many of the provisions of CS/CS/HB 7117, I am concerned whether the taxpayers of Florida will receive a return on the targeted tax credits in the bill,” Scott wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner.

“I look forward to reviewing the analysis of returns to the taxpayers as a result of these tax credits. In considering this analysis, it is my goal to ensure that any investment on behalf of Florida taxpayers in renewable energy would afford them the kind of return they would expect of their tax dollars. Absent clear documentation that the proposed tax credits have produced a sufficient return or provided significant cost savings for the state’s taxpayers, I will request their repeal.”

Slade O’Brien, director of Americans for Prosperity Florida, which lobbied against the energy bill, admitted the group is disappointed, but expects it won’t take long for Scott to seek the repeal of the tax credit program that could be worth up to $100 million in five years.

“I thought the governor had an opportunity with this particular bill to set an example moving forward that we were going to change the culture of this state and get out of the business of picking winners and losers in the market place,” O’Brien said.

“I’m pleased that he didn’t sign the bill and I’m somewhat pleased by his statement. He clearly heard the argument we were making,” O’Brien added. “I think if you look at history, it (tax credits) doesn’t work, they become very expensive jobs.”

Putnam released a statement after the bill’s passage was announced to say the state was taking “a modest step forward toward a smart, long-term energy policy” and that his agency would “implement measures of accountability to analyze the economic impact that results from the bill’s tax credits.”

“The bill offers technology-agnostic tax credits to businesses that demonstrate investment in energy production and create jobs in Florida,” Putnam stated in the release. “Any form of renewable energy is eligible; the market will determine how investments are made. The bill also repeals outdated and counterproductive regulations like the renewable portfolio standard and makes clear that the sale of unblended gasoline is legal.”

Besides the widespread legislative support, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida backed the package.

While expressing caution about the tax credits, Scott didn’t hold back in his praise of other parts of Putnam’s proposal to diversify the state’s energy portfolio.

“This legislation contains numerous pro-­business reforms intended to encourage the development and expansion of businesses in Florida that produce renewable energy,” Scott wrote Detzner.

“CS/CS/HB 7117 streamlines the permitting process for these companies in Florida and reduces other administrative barriers for new companies to operate and grow. Further, it repeals the state’s renewable portfolio standard mandate, which dictates the appropriate level of investment in renewable energy without the influence of the free market.”

The proposal, which includes up to $100 million in tax incentives for renewable energy investments over five years, includes:

• A renewable energy technologies sales tax exemption capped at $1 million a year.
• Reinstatement of the biofuel portion of the renewable energy technologies investment corporate income tax credit up to $10 million per year.
• Reinstatement of the renewable energy production corporate income tax credit that is equal to 1 cent per kilowatt-hour of energy produced from renewable sources. The energy would be sold with a cap of $5 million in the next fiscal year, $10 million a year through 2017.

An independent study by the Delaware-based Environmental Economics of Cardno ENTRIX projected the law will generate $143.5 million in new tax revenue and create more than 3,000 jobs for Floridians.

“The combination of these incentives is projected to generate an annual average of $28.7 million in new tax revenue over the fiscal years 2012-2016 and support as many as 3,350 new jobs in all sectors of the Florida economy by 2017,” John Urbanchuk, technical director for Environmental Economics, stated in a release.

“Not only does increased investment in the form of new capital expenditures generate new economic activity, this investment increases the size, and presumably the quality, of the capital stock, resulting in additional growth in real output in all sectors of the Florida economy.”

Opponents, including Americans for Prosperity Florida, The Heartland Institute, and comedian Victoria Jackson, have derided the bill as the government picking winners and losers among energy companies and have painted the incentives in the energy bill as equal to the stimulus loan guarantees to the failed California-based solar energy company Solyndra. Those loan guarantees cost taxpayers more than $500 million.

Supporters of the bill have countered that Americans for Prosperity is linked with the billionaire Koch brothers, who are deeply rooted in oil money, and that arguments used against the plan to replace alternative-energy mandates with market-driven incentives are rooted in a lack of good information.

Tom Feeney, president of Associated Industries of Florida, called the comparison between Solyndra and Putnam’s bill “false and misleading.”

In an April 10 letter to Scott in support of the energy bill, Feeney noted the tax credit is patterned after “the federal production tax credit signed by several Republican administrations.”

Feeney’s letter also stated that the bill includes two important provisions for the state. One removes burdensome renewable portfolio standards from state law while extending renewable production credits.

“This tax credit is a tax cut for Florida businesses that invest in alternative energy and produce this energy for sale in the state,” Feeney wrote.

“As an alternative to expensive and burdensome mandates enacted in other states, this approach is a thoughtful, reasonable, ratepayer friendly way to encourage new energy production from the state’s utility and non-utility energy producers. It has the potential to be a real job creator by providing a one penny per kilowatt-hour credit for those companies who produce and sell this energy within the state.”

The bill, mediated in both chambers, is the first comprehensive energy plan to be approved by the Legislature since former Gov. Charlie Crist introduced a plan in 2007 that called for sweeping reforms. Many of Crist’s proposals have since remained dormant or required repeal.

The bill also allows local governments to use discretionary sales tax revenue to assist homeowners who make energy-efficiency improvements.

The legislation streamlines the permitting process for bio-fuel feedstock crops and allows retail dealers to sell unblended gasoline, which is a priority for the boating industry.

Posted on: sunshinestatenews.com
Author: Jim Turner
Read More

The snails are a nonnative species that has infested the southern edge of Miami. So far, officials said, they have found 44,000 of the snails.

“They feed on 500 different kinds of plants, so it is a threat to agriculture and homeowners’ lawns,” said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. “They feed on stucco. so it is a threat to your property.”

“Last week when it rained, I came out and I saw so many that I took a plastic bag and I had more than 40 of them,” said resident Reinaldo Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said he called the state agriculture hotline when he saw the snails about six months ago, and inspectors have been out several times bait them with poison and collect them.

The good news is the workers are finding fewer and fewer snails. The last time they were at Rodriguez’s home, they found four 5-gallon buckets full of snails. This time, they collected just three or four bags full.

Also, the snails they are finding are smaller.

“My main concern that I have is I have a kid, a 4 1/2-year-old kid,” Rodriguez said.

“They carry a parasite in some instances which is a potential meningitis threat to human health,” Putnam said.

One snail can lay up to 1,200 eggs a year, so state inspectors are taking the threat very seriously. They believe the pest was actually smuggled into South Florida on purpose.

“There is some usage of the snail by different sects of the Santeria practice, and they are thought to have some value medicinally or otherwise,” Putnam said.

Officials said homeowners who have the snails on their properties can buy a nontoxic poison bait called Sluggo for about $15 at Home Depot or Lowe’s. They said 2.5 pounds of the bait will cover 2,500 feet.

Anyone who thinks they may have seen a giant African land snail is asked to call the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 888-397-1517.

Posted on: local10.com
Author: Todd Tongen
Read more

Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam, under whose department energy now falls, worked with the Legislature during its January-to-March annual session to pass what he called a modest bill. The effort of Putnam, a Republican from Bartow, and several legislators who took lead positions on the bill, including state Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, resulted in passage of the state’s first energy bill in four years.

Energy — particularly as oil prices rise again — must be plentiful and affordable for Floridians to rebuild the state’s economy. This requires a coordinated effort, such as the energy bill (HB 7117) that is before Gov. Rick Scott.

The governor should sign the bill.

Until last week, there was little reason to think he would not. Then, tea party and other conservative groups, including Americans for Prosperity and the John Birch Society, wrote Scott a letter asking him to veto the bill. They said he should do so because it would “circumvent the free-market and consumer choice,” and permit the state to pick winners and losers via tax credits.

Normally such a letter would not be of concern because its main points are untrue.

However, Scott owes much to tea party groups across Florida. Their support played a great role in his gubernatorial election. Indeed, in February 2011, Scott broke with tradition and traveled outside of Tallahassee to a tea party gathering to deliver his first annual budget — one that cut many programs and projects that had found disfavor among his tea party supporters.

STICK TO THE FACTS

Scott should not let such politics sway him from signing this valuable legislation, which would allow the state to begin making up lost time in a field that is so important to Florida businesses and residents alike.

The governor should listen to Putnam, a policy wonk who plays straight with the operational aspects of government.

Putnam refuted the tea party claims before reporters Wednesday:

“We’re relying on the market to make decisions with this legislation, we are not picking winners and losers. We’re not saying solar is better or wind is better, or biomass is better. We’re saying if you spend real capital, and put real bricks and mortar in the ground, and hire people, and actually are producing renewable fuel or electricity, then you are eligible for a tax credit,” he said. “It is not an up-front subsidy to help you get there. It is only after you have spent significant amounts of private capital.”

Scott should realize that the bill is a reasonable effort to restart work toward a more efficient, more affordable energy future for Florida — and sign it.

Posted on: theledger.com
Read More

Students from several local FFA chapters were in attendance, as were State Rep. Marti Coley (whom Putnam praised for her work in Tallahassee), Sheriff Lou Roberts and his wife, former county agent Ed Jowers, peanut buyer Ed Ham and family, and Albert and Kathy Milton of the Cattleman’s Association.

Putnam said it is time people changed their attitude about farming. “I know everyone views agriculture in Florida as quaint and charming, like in a Norman Rockwell painting,” he said, but in these tough economic times, we can tell a different story: Agriculture is now the strongest pillar in the state’s economy. It’s even number two when times are good and tourism isn’t down. Florida agriculture creates one million jobs and contributes more than $100 billion to the economy.”

Putnam said the potential for rural economic development with agriculture is “going unrecognized. “Florida can grow more than 300 different crops,” he said. “I know that chamber of commerce ribbon cuttings are important, but why don’t we send out a giant pair of scissors when a new 40-acre field is planted?” The commissioner thanked Rep. Coley for her assistance as he explained his success in getting the state Legislature last year to shift the “school nutrition program” from the Department of Education to the Department of Agriculture. Because of that, he said, strawberries that would have “rotted in the fields” of Hillsborough County are going instead to some of the four million meals served each day in Florida schools. “They were serving orange juice from South America to our kids that I wouldn’t have given to the pigs,” Putnam said.

Putnam, a farm raised, Polk County (Lakeland) Republican, served 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. before being elected Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner in 2010. He is proving to be quite popular and effective and, at 37, is considered on many short lists as a possible candidate for higher office in the years to come.

“This is a good crowd,” Farm Credit’s Lesia Andrews said after the banquet. “We are very pleased with the way the event turned out.” Farm Credit’s Debbie Shuler, in her closing remarks, gave a very special Farm Credit recognition to Mike Lovrekovic, “the Prime Rib Guy,” for the outstanding custom-cut steaks.

Posted on: wtsp.com
Author: Bo McMullian
Read More

FORT WALTON BEACH — Nicholas Whitney was sure when he called the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that it would take six to eight weeks to renew his concealed firearm permit.

Instead, it took about five minutes.

“I was very excited when I called and was told I would get my renewal instantly,” Whitney said Tuesday while waiting for the license to process. “I can’t believe I can just get in and get out. I wasn’t even upset about waiting, but a same-day process — wow. All I needed to know was when can I come in.”

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam greeted Whitney in the lobby of his department’s office on Eglin Parkway. It is one of eight regional offices where people who wish to renew their permits can get it done the same day.

Previously, those wishing to renew their permits would turn in an application through the mail to the department’s main office in Tallahassee. Now, its FAST Track service can process materials online at the local offices.

Last month, Putnam said his department had more than 58,000 requests for concealed firearm permits and renewals. He said he hopes the new procedure will help ease the strain on the department’s resources.

“We started this process a few weeks ago, but now we’re really trying to get the word out,” Putnam said. “The volume has been so high lately that the feet traffic process is not only a more instant response, but it will help our offices.”

Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley told Putnam that the Sheriff’s Office’s most popular program is firearms training for residents before they get a permit.

A concealed firearm permit cost $117 the first time and $65 to renew. Renewals are required every seven years.

“In this day and age, individuals don’t follow the right rules with firearms,” Whitney said. “By doing this, I feel like I’m following the law and doing everything the legal way.”

Those wishing to renew their license locally must call 850-833-9146 to schedule an appointment and be told of the procedures. People who cannot travel to one of the regional offices still can renew their permits as they have in the past.

“It’s impossible to leave here without a smile,” Whitney said while walking out with his license.

For the first month of 2012, the seasonally adjusted unemployment mark for the Sunshine State was 9.6 percent, down from 9.9 percent a month earlier and 10.9 percent a year earlier.

Gov. Rick Scott stated he was “pleased” with the latest numbers.

“It’s great to see Florida’s economy is trending in the right direction and our unemployment rate is the lowest in three years,” Scott stated in a release.

Overall, there were 894,000 listed as unemployed during the post-holiday season out of a potential labor force of 9.3 million. In December, the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed stood at 913,000.

Most of the gains were in agricultural jobs, with the growing season now starting to bloom across the peninsula.

Nonagricultural jobs — up nearly 75,000 from a year ago at the same point — dropped by 121,200 since December, according to the state DEO. Nearly half of the monthly decline came in retail and wholesale trade.

Construction also recorded further declines, dropping by 16,800 since December and 20,700 off the mark from a year ago.

Overall, private sector jobs are up 88,700 from a year ago, even with a one-month decline of 114,400 positions, according to the DEO.

Meanwhile, government jobs in Florida, at the state and local levels, decreased by 5,500 between December and January. Local governments shed a total of 5,800 jobs.

On Friday, the Department of Labor Statistics unveiled the latest national unemployment figures and, while there were an additional 227,000 nonfarm jobs added to the economy in February, the unemployment rate remained unchanged — 8.3 percent. There remain almost 13 million unemployed in the United States.

Florida’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national mark since February 2008.

Across Florida, many governments that have relied heavily on government jobs have held the lowest unemployment marks: 5.7 percent, Monroe County; 6.9 percent, Okaloosa and Walton counties; 7.3 percent, Alachua County.

The highest marks remain in counties that have seen big drops in information, government and construction jobs: 13.5 percent, Flagler County (down from 13.9 percent in December); 12.8 percent, Hernando County; and 11.8 percent for St. Lucie, Putnam, Hendry and Dixie counties.

Overall, there were 24 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in January, down from 33 in November and 27 in December.

Posted On: Sunshine State News
Author: Jim Turner
Read More: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/agriculture-leads-florida-job-gains-rick-scott-pleased-trend

Click here to read full article