50-year roots of Apopka gem cultivate best of Florida greenery
Most people’s image of agriculture is large fields of uniform crops. Few realize how much research goes into their landscapes, that green wall at the mall and parks.
On the east shore of Lake Apopka next to the State Road 429 tollway is the University of Florida IFAS Mid Florida Research and Education Center that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. One of 12 such centers scattered throughout the state, MREC studies and shares knowledge of a little known but vital dimension of agriculture: lifestyle or urban horticulture. Lifestyle horticulture is the profitable yet environmentally responsible production and use of diverse plants to satisfy demand driven by consumer preferences, tastes and wellness.
It encompasses foliage plants in a green wall, the turf, flowers and trees in front landscapes, ingredients in drinks, medicinal plants and urban-food production. These dimensions come together in a green industry that has a $21 billion impact on Florida’s economy and employs more than 200,000 people. This is a high enough value to keep local agriculture viable and impactful as Central Florida continues to urbanize.
Researchers at MREC study and share information on sustainable growth, process and use of these plants and plant products that affect so many lives. Let’s peek inside MREC’s plant portfolio:
Foliage plants from bromeliads to peace lilies are produced in abundance in Central Florida. Research at MREC developed the biological pest-control, propagation of tiny plants and shipping techniques that aided the foliage industry to become world renown. Indeed, researchers and students contribute to two dynamic and rapidly foliage companies in Apopka — Live Trends, which sells air plants imbedded in small ceramics, and AgriStarts, which propagates tiny plants through tissue culture, and sells them internationally.
MREC helps landscape companies produce and manage the living plants that enhance our gardens, front yards and parks. Landscape plants and designs are diverse, meaning there’s a landscape for every lifestyle choice. But landscapes also intersect with a sustainable environment. MREC partners with the UF Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences Florida Friendly Landscaping program. Florida Friendly Landscaping is the right plant for the right place. MREC studies how consumers can select the right plant; appropriate weed and pest control to ensure those right plants grow; and how much water those plants need to create the right place.
Lifestyle horticulture plants flavor our beverages and fill our medicine cabinets, and MREC is studying how to grow and use them. MREC showed that hops that flavor beer can be grown in Florida, much to the joy of the dynamic local craft beer industry. MREC is also studying how to grow the medicinal properties of skullcap, a small native herb; butterfly tea, a vine with beautiful blue flowers that can be used for healthy teas; and yacon, a daisy-like herb with tasty sweet tubers with many medicinal properties.
Aiding and understanding local food systems is becoming a major element of MREC’s urban portfolio. Our abundant food means eating is a lifestyle choice. Most food we eat is grown far away and distributed through a centralized system — one that is mostly unknown, unknowable and difficult to trust by consumers. Urban food systems are decentralized, local, organically grown and distributed, healthy food from diverse sources — from small suburban farms to abandoned urban lots to indoor hydroponics in city centers. MREC is expanding its focus to study how to reduce barriers and add incentives to promote urban food production and distribution.
MREC’s research and sharing of information on lifestyle is indeed high value urban agriculture and increases the quality of life of all in Central Florida. We look forward to another 50 years of serving Central Florida’s population and green industry.