Florida using different methods to protect avocados

May 06, 2015

Drones are among the tools being implemented

Florida’s agriculture industry is worth about $120 billion and the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, has an obligation to protect it from pests and disease as best he can.

Currently, Florida’s avocado crops are threatened by laurel wilt, which is spread by the red ambrosia beetle. As a result, Commissioner Putnam has provided four Specialty Crop Block Grants to help save Florida’s avocado industry – valued around $64 million.

The latest grant uses an animal for ground patrol and drones to fly above and identify laurel wilt in the fields.

“What they are going to do is cover more area for us and pinpoint an area that looks like it might have a disease,” said Deetta Mills, a Florida International University microbiologist in an inte rview with CBS This Morning.

Drone

After the drone completes its flight and determines areas where trees could be at risk, the ground troops move in to pinpoint the ones that actually are.

The ground troops used have four legs, a friendly demeanour and sometimes a love of playing fetch.

Yes, dogs.

The sensitive nature of a dog’s nose can pick up the scent the laurel wilt gives off. When they find an infected tree, they sit beside it to identify it – taking all the guess work out of trying to find which trees are infected.

“By early detection with the dogs, we think we can do an early treatment,” said Dr. Ken Furton, a leading scholar in forensic chemistry who specializes in scent detection at Florida International University.

German Shepherd

Trees infected with laurel wilt may show some of the following symptoms:

Drooping, wilted leaves with red or purple discoloration
String-like tubes or piles of fine sawdust on the bark of wilted trees
Leaves turning brown and may stay on the tree for up to a year

Join the conversation and tell us your thoughts about dogs being used to sniff out trees that are in trouble. Does it change the way you look at your dog?

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.