Ryan Ray
A months-long process of the U.S. Department of Agriculture transferring 3,800 acres of land to Florida A&M University came to an end Tuesday, as the nation’s largest historically black college formally took over the Hernando County tract.
For more than 80 years, the site was home to the USDA’s Subtropical Agricultural and Research Station until it was closed in 2012 because of federal budget cuts. It was use most recently for research by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences.
Among the many who advocated for FAMU’s takeover of the site, in the making since last year, was U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham.
Graham’s congressional district director Mary Lee Kiracofe was on hand for an event celebrating the transfer in rural Brooksville, Hernando’s county seat.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Florida A&M University,” Graham said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
“The land will be a training tool where new and beginning farmers will learn the latest in farm practices and biotechnology – improving Florida agriculture and our economy,” she said.
FAMU lies squarely in Graham’s electoral base in Tallahassee, within Florida’s 2nd Congressional District.
Graham appeared in a campaign rally there last year with former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, as well as her father, former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.
According to the USDA, the land will specifically facilitate “new research related to subtropical fruits and animals and conduct research of significance to Central and South America, and the Caribbean,” as well as university-conducted organic farming.
“We are grateful to the USDA for entrusting us with this land,” FAMU President Elmira Mangum said. “It will enable FAMU to develop educational training and developmental programs for new and beginning farmers and ranchers, and to teach them the latest biotechnological innovations and other key initiatives.”
