BRADENTON HERALD

January 11, 2006

Study to focus on ag's impact
Manatee to hire agricultural analyst to appraise industry

RICHARD DYMOND
Herald Staff Writer

MANATEE - Although tomatoes, peppers, shrubs, livestock, citrus and fishing bring millions of dollars into Manatee County yearly, officials have been frustrated that they don't know exactly how much.

It's hard to make a case for protecting productive farmland for the future if agriculture officials can't say precisely what crops are worth or how many migrant workers come into the county. Or how much revenue they generate in food, gas and other purchases and how much they cost the county in housing, medical and other expenses, said Phyllis Gilreath, a University of Florida agriculture extension agent.

"We feel like we are coming up with gaps," Gilreath said.

County commissioners took a step in solving the problem Tuesday when they authorized negotiations with American Farmland Trust, a 25-year-old Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit to analyze the county's agricultural operations, said Pamela Wicinas, a client manager with the trust.

"We use a lot of data," Wicinas said by phone from Massachusetts on Tuesday. "We look at the agricultural census and other indicators. But we don't do it all from a phone. We will have people in Manatee County."

The annual economic impact of agriculture is placed at $500 million.

But that is a guess based on what local agricultural officials know, then estimating the rest, Gilreath said.

Putting the annual value of tomatoes and other vegetables at $260 million is probably fairly close to accurate, but other categories - like fishing, citrus, livestock and nursery - are estimates.

"We give talks all the time, and people want to know how important agriculture is to the county," Gilreath said. "We always say it is up there with tourism. But we have only a couple of commodities that we really know - vegetables and ornamentals. We feel a need for updated figures."

The Florida Statistical Service, a part of state government, used to do a commodity by commodity analysis, but doesn't any longer, Gilreath said.

"Every year we have less and less hard data," Gilreath said. "We are hard-pressed to find information."

The figure of 18,000 has been used for the number of migrant workers in the county, but that is also a guess, officials said.

"We have never had a good handle on the number of farm employees," Gilreath said. "We would like to know the domino effect of what they spend in the county, how much leaves, how much we spend on farmworker housing and health care. We don't feel comfortable with the numbers we have."

Not only would the study delve into agricultural's numbers, it could analyze how effective developments are coexisting with agricultural operations and come up with suggestions, said Commissioner Donna Hayes.

"The study would help us re-evaluate the significance of agriculture in our county," Hayes said.

The study could offer ways that new development could be buffered by agriculture operations, with areas of high density built around greenway areas where growers have their fields, said Commissioner Amy Stein.

"Agriculture is a very important economic segment to keep up to date," Stein said.

American Farmland Trust recently performed an agriculture industry profile for both Berks and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania, Wicinas said.

"We gave them a whole report filled with different recommendations and they have started to implement some of these ideas."

Wicinas said it is too early to say what the fee for the service will be or when the study will be started and completed.