A member of the Florida legislature joined us on CTIC Conservation in Action tour of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) last week to learn more herself about the various conservation efforts in the region.
Representative Katie Edwards of Broward County says there is a lot of legislative interest in water quality projects and with her agricultural background it’s important for her to get a first hand look at what farmers are doing in the EAA. “Seeing how the Everglades restoration projects we began years ago are coming to fruition, seeing what things we still have yet to do … and making sure that going into this upcoming session I have a good grasp on the needs of our farmers,” she said.
Katie was born and raised in my old home town of Plantation, Florida and was executive director of the Dade County Farm Bureau before embarking on her political career. She is pictured here on the left next to Barb Miedema with the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, one of the local folks who helped CTIC organize the tour and an old friend from our days covering agriculture in the state. It was great to see them both again.
I talked with Katie about a number of topics, including the attitude of the Florida legislature toward agriculture and her thoughts about the Waters of the United States proposal. “I like having control of the waters of our state, I like working with our industry, our utilities, our farmers at the regional level,” she said. “I think when you give up that much autonomy to somebody in Washington DC that does not know the intricacies of your local environment, you have given up everything.”
Interview with Florida state rep Katie Edwards