Education

68. 4-H & FFA Youth Programs

We support 4-H Extension and FFA youth programs. These programs should encourage an agricultural-based education system that utilizes traditional agricultural experiences. (OVERSIGHT)

69. Ag-in-the-Classroom (AITC)

We strongly support the AITC program, and encourage our members to purchase the agricultural specialty license plate (Ag tag). (OVERSIGHT)

70. Agricultural Fairs & Expositions

We strongly support agricultural fairs and expositions and the public exhibition of livestock. These programs encourage and support 4-H and FFA youth programs and agricultural education. We urge municipalities and governmental entities to actively support fairs and expositions to help them grow and flourish. (OVERSIGHT)

71. Aquaculture Education

We encourage funding and participation in aquacultural education programs at all levels for the youth of the State of Florida through programs such as AITC, FFA and 4-H. (AQUA)

72. Educational Materials that Discourage Use of Animal Products

We strongly oppose the use of educational material in our public schools that discourages the use of animal products.

We strongly urge the use of accurate and up-to-date information on the value of animal products in a healthy diet as part of the nutrition curriculum for our public schools. (BEEF) (DAIRY)

73. Food Animal Practitioners

We support efforts by the Legislature, UF/IFAS and College of Veterinary Medicine to address the critical shortage of food animal practitioners in Florida. We recommend the development of six to eight scholarships per class for students who will commit to practice Food Animal Medicine for a specified number of years in Florida. (DAIRY) (BEEF)

74. School Vouchers

We believe that all children in the state are deserving of the best education available; therefore, public dollars that have been assured for education of each child in the state should be treated as a scholarship that will follow the child to the school chosen by the family — whether it be a public, private or parochial school. (OVERSIGHT)

75. Two-Year Ag Degree Programs

We favor the development of more two-year agricultural degree programs in cooperation with our current community colleges utilizing the professional expertise of the UF?IFAS Agricultural Extension Service. (OVERSIGHT)

76. University of Florida/IFAS

Agriculture provides positive impact on the economy and environment of Florida to the benefit of all citizens. We urge the Board of Trustees and the Florida Legislature to give high priority to agricultural research and transfer of technology needed to keep agriculture viable in this state.

We strongly support the continuation of UF/IFAS as an integrated research, teaching and extension program and a separate budgetary unit for conducting the food and agricultural programs at the University of Florida.

We encourage UF/IFAS and agricultural leadership to continue to strengthen joint planning of the research and education programs for the State of Florida.

We urge the Legislature to recognize that UF/IFAS budget is a unique budget item of the state that provides for economic development and consumer benefits. As government is restructured, this budget area should be strengthened in relation to other university budget areas.

We urge the Florida Legislature and Congress to provide funding of UF/IFAS to meet the challenges of commercial agriculture in this state.

We support the School of Natural Resources and the Environment using cross-disciplinary resources administered by the Office of the Vice President of UF/IFAS.

We encourage UF/IFAS to provide research and information to producers seeking alternative crops for increased revenues.

We support the appropriate interstate regionalization of agricultural research, extension and education at our land grant institutions. (OVERSIGHT)

77. Vocational Agriculture

We support the vocational agricultural education and FFA programs in Florida's schools. State funds generated by Full Time Equivalent (FTE) from vocational programs must be utilized by those programs. Each local vocational agriculture program shall have a functioning advisory committee.

We urge the Florida Legislature and the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) to keep weighted FTE funding for vocational agriculture educational programs.

We urge FDOE to provide for pre-vocational agricultural education at the pre-ninth grade level.

We recommend that more emphasis by FDOE be given to hiring certified, professional teachers for all secondary school vocational agriculture teacher positions.

We urge FDOE's continued support of the FFA activities and vocational agriculture education competitive contests. (OVERSIGHT)