Off-Campus Faculty and Facilities - South Florida

 

Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

A research goal at the Ft. Lauderdale AREC is to devise new and improved technology to produce, protect, and manage ornamental plants and turfgrasses for subtropical areas. The AREC is also intended to serve as a statewide center for expertise concerning fastidious vascular pathogens of plants. Commodity orientation includes plant pathological assistance for production of foliage, floral, and woody ornamental nurseries, as well as landscape maintenance. Disease investigations with turfgrasses concentrate on southern grass species such as bermudagrass, bahiagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and zoysiagrass. Other areas of research include exotic pest detection and urban IPM system development.

Ft. Pierce Agricultural Research and Education Center - Ft. Pierce, Florida

Research on citrus, vegetables, and forage crops is conducted at the Ft. Pierce AREC. This is an ideal research setting forseveral reasons: St. Lucie County is one of the top two citrus producing counties in the state, a large proportion of Florida's pastures are just west of the research center, and several vegetables are produced in the area. Studies on the important diseases of citrus, tristeza and blight, are currently being conducted at the AREC, as well as studies of other citrus diseases such as fruit drop, Rio Grande gummosis, and diseases caused by viroids. The Ft. Pierce AREC has one of the world's largest collections of tropical legume germplasm which are being studied for forage potential.

Everglades Agricultural Research and Education Center - Belle Glade, Florida

The Everglades Research and Education Center is situated on the southeast corner of Lake Okeechobee, the geographic hub of some of the most intensive vegetable production east of the Mississippi. Thirty-two winter vegetables are grown in one four-county area . In addition, over 400, 000 acres of sugarcane and 14, 000 acres of rice are grown on the fertile organic soils of the Everglades Agricultural Area. Plant pathological research at the center is focused primarily on the development of effective, low-input disease management programs. In many instances, this entails cooperative research with agronomists, horticulturists, entomologists, weed scientists, and agricultural engineers located at the center.

Tropical Agricultural Research and Education Center - Homestead, Florida

At the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, researchers address a large variety of problems associated with tropical and subtropical fruit including citrus, limes, and vegetables grown in South Florida. The center is the only state-supported university facility in the continental U.S. Iocated in the humid subtropics. Its proximity to the Caribbean basin, the climate, and the crops grown in the area commit the center to international involvement. Specific research at the center involves the detection and utilization of resistant germplasm of crops such as avocado, papaya, and tomato to such diseases as Phytophthora root rot of avocado, papaya ringspot virus, and tomato bacterial spots and brown root rot. Other emphasis is on the etiology, biology, and control of plant diseases, with emphasis on soil-borne pathogens, and epidemiology.

Southwest Florida Research and Education Center - Immokalee, Florida

Among the research priorities at the SWREC, located in the heart of the most rapidly expanding citrus and vegetable production area in Florida, is the development of environmentally sound controls for pathogens occurring on citrus, vegetables, sugarcane, and forage crops. Other research thrusts at the center include developing new agricultural information on water and nutrient management, cultivar evaluations, crop and herd management, and integrated pest management.

South Florida Faculty