Plant City’s Ag-Mart Produce Inc., which does business as Santa Sweets Inc., has started a sustainability program to improve environmental practices.
“The employee sustainability team is a critical corporate initiative that brings out the best in our employees and the company,” said Kevin Delaney, Director of Sustainability and Productivity at Ag-Mart. “We have employees that are energized to improve the environment, and this initiative provides a forum where they can all talk together, share mutual strategies affecting the different audiences and implement suggestions.”
A member of the sustainability team is already responsible for organizing a food drive to benefit the United Food Bank of Plant City. Other sustainability team programs include tomato donations to local food shelters, shared recycling strategies at Ag-Mart’s various locations and a plastic mulch recycle program, which, when implemented, is expected to improve the environment and reduce costs.
“The sustainability team brings out the best in all worlds. Their ideas help the community, improve the environment, and oftentimes bring a cost savings to the company. It goes to show the benefits of listening to employees and acting on their suggestions,” continued Delaney.
The sustainability team is expected to meet once per month using Web conferencing software to connect the 17 members of the team located throughout the country. In addition to helping the environment and improving the bottom line, the sustainability team also provides a bonding opportunity between co-workers who otherwise would not work together.
Posted in: News.
Tagged: Ag-Mart · environment · green · Santa Sweets · Sustainability
The 2009 Florida Strawberry Festival Queen, Lauren Der, is coming upon the end of her reign, and the 2010 Queen will be named this week.
TBO has photos and short biographies of the 24 young ladies competing in the pageant on February 6 at the festival expo hall.
Posted in: Events, Plant Citizens, Strawberries.
Tagged: pageant · queen · royalty · Strawberry Festival
The Plant City Garden Club is ready for their annual flower show.
The show will be from 5 to 8pm on February 4 at the Walden Lake Golf & Country Club, in the Clubhouse at 2001 Clubhouse Drive.
“Story Book Gardens” is the theme this year, and arrangements will draw from various fairy tales. A magician is on tap to provide entertainment.
Admission is free, and you can learn more about the flower show at plantcitygardenclub.org or call 813.759.1638.
Posted in: Events.
Tagged: flower show · flowers · Garden Club · Walden Lake
When the temperature drops, as it did earlier this month, farmers don’t have many options to protect crops. They spray millions of gallons of water on their berries in an effort to save them from being destroyed.
Obviously, using all that water leads to trouble for the rest of us – sinkholes divert traffic, wells run dry, homes are in danger of being swallowed by the ground, even schools are evacuated.
Politicians and other officials straddle a line between agricultural interests and everyday citizens. And after all the trouble this year, Swiftmud says they promise to look at how it allocates water in strawberry country.
To be sure, the entire process is quite a dilemma, and one we must all live with. Likewise, we must all be involved in the solution. We’d love to hear any ideas you might have – please leave them in the comments here.
Posted in: Plant Citizens, Strawberries, Weather.
Tagged: crops · farmers · freeze · homes · sinkholes · together · transportation · water
The Caribbean Chapter of the Society of American Foresters is ready for the 3rd Annual Tree Seedling Sale on Saturday, January 23.
We need your help with the sale and encouraging the public to plant trees in honor of Florida Arbor Day! We will be giving children 10 and under a FREE seedling (while supplies last).
A majority of the proceeds will be used to fund scholarships for forestry students attending the University of Florida in Plant City.
Set-up will begin at 8:00am. Please send an email or notify me if you can help with the sale.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at (352) 457-6356 or ErinG@nrpsforesters.com!
Erin also wants you to visit ArborDay.org to learn more about tree planting opportunities. Green thumbs may also be interested in the Plant City Garden Club.
Posted in: Events.
Tagged: arbor day · foresters · fundraisers · seeds · trees
