Subscribe to Fresh from the Field to get this content in your inbox every month!
Florida Focus
October 2009
Hendry County Extensionist honored for crop advising efforts
By Vicky Boyd, Editor
Gene McAvoy, Hendry County Extension director and a LaBelle-based regional vegetable agent with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has been chosen to receive the 2009 Excellence in Crop Advising Award.
Gene McAvoy
The recognition is presented by the Florida Farm Bureau Federation and the Florida Certified Crop Advisors Program.
He will receive the award at the farm bureau’s 68th annual meeting, Oct. 28-30, in Daytona Beach.
McAvoy, who has been an Extension vegetable specialist for 13 years, says, “I was taken completely by surprise. I am very honored, very appreciative of it.”
Mary Hartney, president and chief executive officer of the Winter Haven-based Florida Fertilizer & Agrichemical Association, says the she nominated McAvoy because of “his unstinting devotion to providing the ag community with the best information possible.”
McAvoy conducts numerous grower, applicator and consultant education sessions during the year—a fact that didn’t go unnoticed.
“Once Jack Hebb retired from the UF-IFAS Extension staff, Gene McAvoy became the front runner for offering the most CCA [certified crop adviser] continuing education programs of anyone in the state,” Hartney says.
Not only does he organize a lot of meetings, but they are cutting edge and promote professionalism in the field, she says.
“Thanks to his efforts, Florida CCAs are armed with the technical and research information they need to help grow Florida agriculture,” Hartney says.
The national CCA program, administered by the American Society of Agronomy, is a voluntary certification program that promotes increased knowledge of nutrient management, soil and water management, integrated pest management and crop management.
CCAs must pass a test and then maintain their certification through continuing education programs.
The CCA program is administered locally in 37 states. In Florida, the Florida Fertilizer & Agrichemical Association oversees it.
