Press Releases

Today, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced the new leadership team for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) Office of Agricultural Water Policy, with Jessica Ferris serving as director and Megan Seward as assistant director. Ferris previously served as the office's interim director and will now lead the office permanently.

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson today announced the arrest of Roger Rodriguez Vega, of Maitland, Florida, who allegedly re-entered Florida with livestock after being denied entry at a Florida agricultural inspection station for failing to provide the veterinary inspection documentation required under Florida’s New World Screwworm emergency protections. The animals, 24 sheep and goats, originated from Texas – a high-risk area subject to Florida's enhanced New World Screwworm import restrictions.

As Floridians prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the United States, Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson and the Florida Forest Service are encouraging Floridians to use caution with fireworks and to obey local burn regulations and county burn bans, where applicable.

Following additional detections of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Texas and New Mexico, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced today that the department will be further strengthening Florida's already aggressive efforts to prevent the reintroduction of the destructive pest into the state by implementing Emergency Rule, 5CER26-7 [ 126.4 kB ] .

Today, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced that the Governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, have approved the preservation of more than 6,200 acres of working Florida agricultural land through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. Rural lands protection easements prevent future development of the land and allow agriculture operations to continue to contribute to Florida’s economy and the production of food, timber, and other resources vital to the...