Contact

Reaching the right people with the right information makes a real difference — especially when the question involves something as time-sensitive as a crop loss, a regulatory deadline, or a licensing question tied to next season's planting schedule. This page outlines how to get in touch with Florida Agriculture Authority, what to include in a message for the fastest possible response, and what to realistically expect on the other end.

What to include in your message

A message that arrives with context gets a useful response. One that arrives without it gets a clarifying question in return — which adds at least a day to the exchange.

Before sending, gather the following:

1. Topic category — Is the question about a specific crop, a regulatory requirement, a funding program, or something operational like pest management or water use? Naming the topic up front routes the message correctly.
2. Geographic specificity — Florida agriculture varies significantly by region. A question about freeze risk in the Panhandle requires different context than one about saltwater intrusion in South Florida. Include the county or production region if it's relevant.
3. The specific resource or page referenced — If a particular page on this site prompted the question, include the title or URL. This narrows the context immediately.
4. What kind of response is needed — A source citation, a clarification, a correction to published content, or a referral to an external agency are four very different requests. Stating which one saves time on both sides.
5. Any relevant dates or deadlines — Florida's agricultural calendar runs on tight windows. A question about a grant application with a hard USDA deadline, for example, should include that deadline date.

One distinction worth flagging: questions that require legal, financial, or licensed agronomic advice fall outside the scope of an editorial reference site. For those, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the University of Florida IFAS Extension program both maintain expert staff positioned to give that kind of guidance directly.

Response expectations

Messages are typically reviewed within 2 to 3 business days. During periods tied to major agricultural events — citrus harvest season, grant application cycles, or post-hurricane damage assessments — response times may extend slightly.

What falls within the scope of a response:

• Corrections or updates to published content
• Questions about sources cited on specific pages
• Suggestions for topics not yet covered
• Feedback on factual accuracy

What falls outside it:

• Legal or regulatory compliance advice specific to an individual operation
• Real-time market pricing or commodity data
• Emergency crop loss or disaster response coordination (those belong with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or local county extension offices)

The distinction matters because it shapes the answer. An editorial site can point toward the authoritative source with real precision — the USDA programs available to Florida farmers, the specifics of Florida farm licensing and permits, the structure of agricultural tax exemptions — but the binding guidance on any individual situation comes from the agencies and professionals who hold the legal standing to give it.

Additional contact options

For time-sensitive agricultural questions that need a licensed specialist, 3 contact pathways consistently produce the fastest results in Florida:

• UF/IFAS Extension County Offices — Florida has 67 counties, and nearly all of them have an extension office staffed with agents who specialize in local agricultural conditions. The University of Florida IFAS directory lists all locations and direct contact numbers.
• FDACS Division of Agricultural Environmental Services — For pesticide licensing, compliance questions, and pest identification, this division handles direct inquiries and has regional field offices across the state.
• Florida Farm Bureau — For farmers seeking guidance on farm insurance options, advocacy questions, or connections to agricultural associations and organizations, the Farm Bureau operates county affiliates statewide.

Each of these operates on a different mandate and serves a different type of question — extension for technical and agronomic questions, FDACS for regulatory matters, Farm Bureau for industry representation and insurance.

How to reach this office

Florida Agriculture Authority operates as a reference and information resource, not a government agency or licensed advisory service. The contact form on this site is the primary channel for editorial correspondence — corrections, content questions, source inquiries, and topic suggestions.

Messages are reviewed by editorial staff with backgrounds in Florida agricultural policy, production systems, and rural land use. Responses prioritize factual accuracy and source transparency above speed, which means a thorough answer may take slightly longer than an immediate acknowledgment.

For content covering highly specific topics — Florida hemp and cannabis agriculture, aquaculture, or the regulatory complexity of farmworker labor laws, for instance — the site may refer a question to a named public source rather than attempt an editorial answer that would be less authoritative than the primary document itself.

That approach reflects a straightforward editorial standard: it is more useful to point precisely toward the right source than to approximate an answer that a licensed specialist or regulatory agency would frame with more authority. Florida agriculture is specific, seasonal, and often legally complex — and the most useful thing a reference site can do is know exactly where its expertise ends.