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Glades Agricultural Tour 2004
November 20, 2004
Fellow Palm Beach County Planning Congress members enjoyed a special tour of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) in western Palm Beach County on Saturday, November 20th. This tour was very similar to last year's tour that was so popular with our members.
On this tour, we had a unique opportunity to see a variety of Palm Beach County agricultural operations first hand and hear from those directly involved about what it takes to operate successfully in today's economy. We also had a chance to see and hear how they have been dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 Hurricane Season. Since many of the products grown in Palm Beach County ultimately make their way to your local grocery store, this was an excellent opportunity to see where they come from!
Modesto Ulloa, Director of Farming Operations for Sugar Farms Cooperative, and John Fanjul, Manager of the Atlantic Sugar Mill took time out of their busy schedules (this is harvesting season) to personally lead this tour. Rick Roth, Owner of Roth Farms, Inc. was taken away on busines in Tallahassee. The tour includes several stops at different sugar cane, rice, vegetable, and sod farming and harvesting operations, as well as a tour of the Atlantic Sugar Mill and the Semchi Rice Mill. Lunch of a magnificent paella and sangria was provided at the Atlantic Sugar Mill, compliments of the Mill.
For those of you who may not realize it, agriculture is the second largest industry in Palm Beach County, second only to tourism. Over 540,000 acres of the county (about 43%) are dedicated to agricultural production. As a result, not only is Palm Beach County the top agricultural county in Florida in terms of production, it is also the top agricultural county east of the Mississippi and one of the top ten agricultural counties in the United States. It leads the nation in the production of sugar cane and fresh sweet corn and leads the State of Florida in the production of rice, bell peppers, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, celery, herbs, specialty leaves, Chinese vegetables, and eggplant.
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