Farm Bureau’s Katie Edwards to address CBBA members

Katie Edwards, executive director of the Dade County Farm Bureau, will be the keynote speaker at the next meeting of the Cutler Bay Business Association on Thursday, May 13.

The meeting will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Palmetto Bay Village Center, 18001 Old Cutler Rd.

Edwards, in addition to managing the 4,000-plus-member Dade County Farm Bureau, maintains governmental, media and industry relations. She joined the Farm Bureau staff as director of communications in July 2003 and was promoted to executive director in January 2004. She has a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Clemson University, and is the founder and past president of Florida Agri-Women.

“I’m going to give an overview of different business opportunities in agriculture, and emerging trends,” said Edwards in an Apr. 20 interview. “It’s coming on the heels of the county’s passage of three ordinances that pertain to expanding opportunities for agribusiness — like the bed and breakfast — and trends in agriculture that include things like being able to process more food products than what we grow here locally, and also expanding agricultural land uses.”

Edwards was honored as the 2005 Agriculturist of the Year by the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be inducted into the Farm Bureau’s prestigious Hall of Honor in 2008.

The Dade County Farm Bureau was established in 1942, the first county Farm Bureau in Florida. A variety of tropical fruits, exotic plants and winter vegetables are produced in Miami-Dade, providing roughly $2.5 billion locally and statewide. Edwards believes that her presentation will be of interest to a variety of people in South Florida.

“The topic is not just for farmers, but also for people who want to get into the culinary side or the marketing side,” Edwards said. “We need help to keep these growers in business, so hopefully it will resonate with the majority of the folks there.”

For more information about the meeting or the CBBA in general, call Cyndi Rogg at 305-609-1096 or send her an email at < Sencyn1@bellsouth.net >.

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