Escambia County, Florida

Escambia County, FloridaFarm Tour 2005

Escambia County, Florida

•661 square miles, or 420,480 acres, with an additional 64,000 acres of water area

•Population of 296,709

•Less than 15,000 are considered to “farm” shares of the total population

•45,000 acres farmed

•250,000 acres of timberland

•10,000 acres of native and improved pastures

2005 Escambia County Agriculture Facts

Crop AcreageExpected

ProductionUnit

ValueGross Value

Cotton 11,090 9,115, 980 lbs $0.73/lb $6,654,665

Cottonseed 11,090 7,347 tons $95/ton $697,000

Peanuts 8,970 14, 352 tons $495/ton $7,104,240

Corn 1,602 0 0 0

Wheat 1,500 93,000 bu $3.40/bu $316,000

Oats 355 30,175 bu $1.75/bu $52,806

Soybeans 1,260 50,400 bu $6.21/bu $312,894

Hay 6,602 $300/ac $1,980,600

Pecans 200 0 0 0

Forestry Facts• 250,000 acres held by

government, private individuals, and corporations

• 1306 direct employees

• $130,000,000 value for standing timber

• $351,000,000 value added

• Over $6 million annual growth

– Indirect impact of labor income is $313.5 million (5917 jobs)

Why did Escambia County need a Farm Tour?

ObjectivesTo showcase Escambia County's agriculture, aquaculture, and

silviculture for community leaders from government, media, and business sectors.

To increase the amount of knowledge of agriculture in this county and its positive impact on the economy and the environment.

To encourage support of present and future ag businesses.

To engage leaders of city, local, state, and federal government, as well as local civic and business leaders, in dialogue with our county’s producers so that the two groups might be able to establish a more

positive relationship.

First stop:

We Dig It

Second Stop: Forestry

Farm Family: The Gilmores

Break Time at the Breault’s

Trying to Net a Profit: Catfish

Everyone’s Favorite Stop: Lunch

In High Cotton

Got Milk?

Results and Evaluation• 98% rated the information provided on the tour as being

excellent, the other 2% rated it as being very good.

• The dairy stop had the most positive ratings with 92% giving it an excellent score as far as being informative.

• When asked the question, “Did you increase your knowledge of the scope and impact of agriculture and forestry in Escambia County?”, 94% of the respondents

rated it as YES.