Congratulations to the 2017 Florida Farmer of the Year, Mark Wilson
Each year, a farmer from each Southeastern state is chosen as the state’s Farmer of the Year at the 2017 Sunbelt Expo. This year, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) announced that the 2017 Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Florida Farmer of the Year is Mark Wilson of Greendale Nursery in Homestead, Florida. Find out more about Mr. Wilson and his operation, provided by a FDACS press release, below.
About Mark Wilson, 2017 Florida Farmer of the Year
The FDACS press release shared the following:
“Mark Wilson began his first five-acre nursery operation when he moved to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1972. Wilson now runs the 30-acre Greendale Nursery in Homestead, Florida, which produces plants that are sold throughout North America and exported to the Caribbean islands. Wilson’s major crops include: Heliconias, gingers, Alocasia, Cordyline, Croton, Birds of Paradise, bamboo, ground orchids and orchid trees, ornamental and edible bananas, Philodendron, tree ferns, dwarf umbrella, several varieties of Schefflera and several flowering Hibiscus varieties. He also grows pineapples, avocados, jackfruit, ackee and longan.
Championing water conservation, Wilson grows native desert and drought-tolerant plants, and has begun converting from overhead to drip irrigation. Wilson has also reduced his chemical use by 80 percent by implementing air blast sprayers that atomize pesticides into fine droplets.
Throughout the years, Wilson has successfully adapted his nursery in response to extreme challenges, such as rebuilding after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and shifting product focus from household plants to more exotic plants after the 2008 recession.
Wilson has been a director of the Florida Farm Bureau, served on the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida and chaired the state committee for USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Wilson has also been active in the Boy Scouts of America, Dade County Farm Bureau, Dade County Public School Advisory Committee and the Dade Chapter of the Florida Foliage Association, and has also served as an advisor or member for multiple community economic development initiatives.”
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.
