On March 5 , the 2013 legislative session will begin , and bring with it plenty of changes and new faces . As this is being written , it is still early in the process and issues are continuing to come into focus . At this point , these are the issues that have been identified as the priority issues for Florida Farm Bureau Federation during this session :

1 ) Greenbelt We are working to preserve the “ greenbelt ” agricultural assessment . We will consider the possibility of making several changes that will remove antiquated provisions that allow the greenbelt assessment to be removed in certain

circumstances . For example , current law states that if agricultural land is purchased at three times its assessed value , it is presumed to have a nonagricultural use and can be assessed at a much higher rate . FFBF believes the statutes should reflect clearly that eligibility for greenbelt should be based on the use of the land .

2 ) Agritourism FFBF is working on legislation that limits the ability of local governments to regulate agritourism activities on land that is classified as agricultural . The proposed measures would redefine agritourism to clarify that only operations that are explicitly linked to production agriculture can be classified as agritourism . It also would

limit an agritourism owner / operator ’ s liability for injuries caused by inherent risks .

3 ) UF / IFAS and FDACS Funding Securing the proper funding for both the UF / IFAS and FDACS are important priorities for FFBF .

4 ) Citrus Greening Research Funding The citrus industry is requesting an appropriation of $ 9 million to support research aimed at finding a solution to citrus greening disease . Greening truly threatens the viability of the citrus industry and quickly allocating resources to develop short term and long term solutions is vital .

5 ) Water Several bills have already been filed dealing with the quality and quantity of water . FFBF supports science-based regulations that take into account agriculture ’ s dependence on a consistent water supply and continuing efforts to keep Florida ’ s water clean .

6 ) Duplication of Regulations As cities continue to expand their borders and annex additional land , more and more agricultural land has

become located inside city limits . FFBF is supporting a bill that would expand the Agricultural Lands and Practices Act to include protection from regulations from any governmental entity if the activities are already being regulated by state or federal agencies .

7 ) Immigration Several states have passed legislation that require the mandatory use of E-Verify and contain other enforcement provisions . FFBF believes that immigration reform is a federal issue . Without a viable federal guest-worker program , virtually anything that the Florida legislature passes will make it more difficult for Florida farmers to find workers .

Throughout the legislative session , AgWatch , an email newsletter , will be published each Friday to keep you up to speed on everything that is going on in Tallahassee . You can sign up to receive AgWatch by sending your request to rachael . smith @ ffbf . org . You can also download the publication by accessing the Florida Farm Bureau Federation ’ s website at www . floridafarmbureau . org .