By Raelyn Burr & Kye Chapman, 08/18/2026

 

On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District staff attended the Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo. It was a great event that gave us a chance to meet some interesting people, learn more about what is happening in Florida agriculture, and make a few connections that could be useful for farmers in the district.

We stopped by the UF/IFAS citrus booth and learned about their ongoing projects, such as citrus greening biological controls. They were also promoting cover crops, particularly cowpea and Sunn hemp, for row middles on tree farms. We did not see information on perennial peanuts, which isn't a huge surprise since the plant does not grow as well in the seasonally flooded area where that research center is located.

Another memorable booth we visited was with a gentleman who is passionate about agriculture and believes there are major gaps in modern public education when it comes to teaching people how to grow crops, raise livestock, and understand where their food comes from. He works to fill those gaps by bringing the educational experience, including teachers, interns, and students, directly to farms. We also briefly spoke to representatives from a local irrigation company, who work directly with farms to install and update irrigation systems. This could turn into a useful connection for helping farmers get quotes and explore plasticulture and drip irrigation systems. Another interesting conversation was with a company pioneering the use of biochar. They explained their production process and some of the benefits being explored around nutrient management, long-term carbon storage, and productive disposal of trees, landscape, and other wood waste. Their equipment can be rented and brought directly to a farm, allowing farmers to process material onsite and keep the resulting biochar for use on their property

Finally, we attended the second session of specialty crops research presentations. The first presentation focused on the potential benefits of adding biochar into crop production systems by increasing nutrient availability by adding carbon structures into the soil. This helps regulate water loss for dry fields and “houses” the microbes that allow plants to uptake nutrients and fight disease. The study also suggests that a one-time application can improve soils for many years, with no additional benefits being found from amending the soil with biochar seasonally.

The next presentation was about the effects of soil fumigation on beneficial soil microbes. While the exact mechanism was not found in this study, it seems that current fumigation practices temporarily increase beneficial microbe activity in the soil while harmful microbe activity is suppressed. The current hypothesis is that reducing harmful microbes reduces either competition or predation on beneficial microbes. These effects seem to last only about 8-12 weeks in this study, which brings most crops through to harvest time. The study ultimately suggests that, despite the immense cost of pre-season fumigation, the benefits may make the cost worthwhile, especially in underperforming fields. The third talk was presented by SWFREC and advertised a bell pepper economics tool that is hyper-specific to Collier and Lee counties, and the final talk was a SWFREC mid-project review of how ditches can affect tomato crop production.

Overall, the Citrus and Specialty Crop Expo were a worthwhile experience and opportunity to see how researchers, businesses, and growers are addressing the challenges facing Florida’s agriculture. It is always a joy to learn how our community’s innovators are inventing ways to make food production healthier, more sustainable, and efficient. The presentations gave us a better understanding of the emerging research on soil health, biochar, fumigation, irrigation, and specialty crop production. The conversations with the exhibitors connected us with organizations working directly with farmers who have adopted these new innovations and provided us with an opportunity to imagine how these technologies could become useful resources for Hillsborough County’s agricultural community. We walked away with a plethora of information, new contacts and several new ideas on how to better serve the Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation District. We highly recommend attending next year’s event in Fort Myers, Florida, scheduled for August 4th and 5th of 2027.