Page 17 - Strategic Plan

1.4 Institutional Context
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
The University of Florida is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, encompassing many academic and professional disciplines, with an en- rollment of more than 50,000 students. As a mem- ber of the Association of American Universities, UF aspires to become a premier university. As part of the University of Florida, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) includes the Col- lege of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the Florida Co- operative Extension Service, part of the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Florida Sea Grant program. UF/IFAS encompasses 16 on-campus ac- ademic departments and schools, 12 Research and Educational Centers (RECs) located throughout the state, 6 Research sites/demonstration units administered by RECs or academic departments, and Florida Cooperative Extension Service offic- es in all 67 Florida counties. The School of Natural Resources and Environment is an interdisciplinary unit housed in UF/IFAS and managed by several colleges on campus. UF/IFAS employs over 2,500 people, which includes approximately 900 faculty and 1,200 support personnel located in Gainesville and throughout the state As one of the nation’s largest agricultural and natural resources research and education organizations, UF/IFAS is adminis- tered by the Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the four deans of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Exten- sion/Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Re- search/Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, and College of Veterinary Medicine. UF/IFAS also engages in cooperative work with Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.
The goals of UF/IFAS include expanding its lead- ership in basic and applied research in agriculture, natural resources, and interrelated human sys- tems; increasing the sustainability, profitability and competitiveness of Florida’s agricultural and natu- ral resource industries, and broadening the recruit- ing base for undergraduate students.
Tropical Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS/TREC)
Established in 1929 by the state legislature in what is now Miami-Dade County, the Tropical Research and Education Center of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida is locat- ed in Homestead, Florida, about 30 miles south of Miami. The research, teaching, and extension pro- grams at TREC focus on tropical and temperate vegetable crops, tropical and subtropical fruit, and ornamental crops grown in the oolitic limestone soil of south Florida. In addition, TREC addresses water and environmental issues that impact sustainabil- ity (crop production, general ecosystem services and local economies) over the shallow Biscayne Aquifer in proximity to the Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Florida Bay, numer- ous other protected areas and wildlife refuges, and major well fields that provide drinking water to the several million people in neighboring urban areas.
TREC, situated on approximately 160 acres of con- tiguous land, contains offices, laboratories, green- houses, shade houses, maintenance buildings, fruit orchards, and vegetable fields. Approximately 8.5 acres of the TREC land contain the threatened Pine Rockland Ecosystem unique to south Florida. Renovation/construction is planned to add quali- ty space for the expanding TREC faculty and pro- grams that serve the natural resource, agronomic, ornamental and landscape plant, vegetable, and tropical fruit industries, as well as water and envi- ronmental issues that impact the region. The Flori- da Extension Plant Diagnostic Clinic is also located on the TREC campus.
TREC currently has 17 faculty members, with one serving as the Center Director and another as As- sociate Center Director. The full range of faculty expertise includes agricultural economics, agro- ecology, biogeochemistry, soil and water sciences, hydrology, agricultural engineering, environmental and molecular plant physiology, fruit and vegeta- ble genetics and breeding, entomology and plant pathology, ornamental plant biotechnology, and tropical fruit crop horticulture.
Current budgeted FTE for the unit is 10.5 research, 5.05 Extension, and 0.45 teaching. Faculty and staff provide invaluable support to local growers, homeowners, and other stakeholders by provid-
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