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Welcome to the home of the freshest, most delicious strawberries in the world. Enjoy fresh Florida strawberries, available December through April.

USDA: Dirty Dozen Not So Dirty

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USDA Logo
United States Department of Agriculture

People all hear about the “Dirty Dozen,” but media seldom relates the good news that the USDA continues to find all fruits and vegetables well within the safe threshold for pesticide residues.  On this issue, Dr. Oz is still dead wrong.

Fighting disparagement of safe, healthy produce

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released its annual Pesticide Data Program report. The government findings were consistent with those from previous years: “Residues do not pose a food safety concern.”

Also consistent with previous years, there was no coverage at all from mainstream media about this positive government report concerning the safety of our food.

What is even more concerning than this lack of “good news” coverage is what consumers regularly do hear about produce safety.

Last week Dr. Oz ran another story which inaccurately made this claim about a popular produce item: “…toxic pesticides have seeped in by the time it reaches the supermarket. And washing them does not help.”

– See more at: Fighting disparagement of safe, healthy produce

Ag Commissioner Optimistic

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Florida ag commissioner optimistic about future of Florida produce

A Florida Strawberry FieldThe 2012 presidential election did not go the way most Florida farmers would have preferred. The future of the Farm Bill is cloudy and workable immigration reform seems years away. Foreign competition is increasing and the Sunshine State faces challenges ranging from diseases like the citrus-destroying HLB to the ongoing tangle of water-quality restrictions imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But Adam Putnam, commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, is optimistic about the future of Florida produce.

“We have an active, progressive group that are leaders for the country, and I’m continually reminded of that when I meet with our colleagues around the country,” Commissioner Putnam said. “The challenges that Florida has and a couple of our brothers and sisters like California, the rest of the country looks to us and says ‘We need to pay attention to what’s going on there because that’s going to be going on in our backyard in two years or five years.’

“Florida agriculture continues to be strong — 300 commodities around the state. Some are having the worst year ever, others are continuing to do very well and are benefiting from the fact that trade flows and demand are continuing to grow. Just to put this in the big picture perspective, in the long run there’s nobody in a better position from a standpoint of job security than people who are in the food business,” Commissioner Putnam said….How do you feed a planet of 9 billion people without extraordinary improvements in yield and productivity that have to be driven by science? At the root of everything we do, we have to continue to embrace science and have policy makers embrace science in order to feed a growing world. We have to have another green revolution to get there. Having policies that allow our country and state to reach our potential is going to be important to global stability because 9 billion hungry people is a recipe for global catastrophe.”

Continue reading at Produce News

About Florida Winter Strawberries

In 1980, a few strawberry growers began meeting in their homes to discuss the best way to organize a group that would represent the interests of the Florida strawberry industry. On February 11, 1982, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association (FSGA) was born. Hillsborough County is recognized as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World and the home of some of the sweetest, reddest and juiciest strawberries around.

Get Connected

Florida Strawberry Growers Association
P.O. Box: 2550
Plant City, FL 33564
Telephone: 813-752-6822
Fax: 813-752-216

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