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North Florida Research And Education Center

North Florida Research And Education Center

‌NFREC Mission, Values, Strategy and Facilities

NFREC's Mission

...is to enhance agriculture, natural resources and quality of life through science.

North Florida Research & Education Center (NFREC) is one of the largest and the most diverse units of UF/IFAS, consisting of research and education campuses in Quincy and Marianna, Florida. NFREC has 16 active faculty members representing 8 academic departments and the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, 3 emeritus faculty members (still active in research at NFREC) and a dynamic population of post-doctoral associates, scientific/farm/administrative staff. NFREC-Quincy also is the home to the District Extension Director for Northwest Florida and his staff. This diversity of faculty, staff and programs provides a unique setting for interdisciplinary work within the NFREC campuses, with colleagues on the main UF campus and with faculty at other Centers around the state.

 NFREC interacts with state and federal agencies, such as Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Florida’s Water Management Districts. In addition to private entities like the Nature Conservancy, the Rodale Institute, Coca-Cola, and a variety of industries in forestry and agro-chemicals are engaged with programs at NFREC.  Multi-state programs are carried out with colleagues in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and other states in the southeastern US.

The research and extension programs at NFREC are designed to help agricultural and natural resource clientele adapt and manage resources and agricultural operations effectively and profitably in a changing socioeconomic and environmentally aware setting.

Contact & Directions:

The Values of North Florida Research and Education Center

  • ‌Respect
  • Ethical Behavior
  • Fellowship & Mutual Assistance
  • Education & Growth
  • Unbiased Scientific Information
  • Stakeholder Focus
  • Innovation & Creativity

NFREC Fact Sheet of our facilities and personnel

Departments/Number of Personnel

Departments Quincy Personnel Live Oak Personnel Marianna Personnel Total
Agronomy 2 0 2 4
Animal Science 0 0 2 2
Entomology 1 0 0 1
Environmental Horticulture 1 0 0 1
Forestry 1 0 0 1
Horticulture Science 2 0 0 2
Plant Pathology 2 0 0 2
Soil & Water Science 2 0 0 2
Wildlife 1 0 0 1
Regional Specialized Extension Agent (RSA) 0 4 0 4
EMERITUS 5 0 2 7

 

Acreage/Facilities

Acres/BLDGS (Sq Ft) Quincy Live Oak Marianna Total
Acreage 1,021 388 1,288 2,397
Laboratories / Office 51,060 6,682 32,506 90,238
Student Residence 1,944 0 2,400 4,344
Classrooms (No. of) 1 1 1 3
Green House 12,652 4,704 2,510 19,566
Storage 20,950 21,203 43,440 85,593
Shop/Maintenance 5,502 3,200 3,250 11,952
Shade House 13,689 2,500 2,500 16,189
Other 6,480 5,887 21,172 33,539

 Environmental/Animal/Equipment

En.../An.../Eq... Quincy Live Oak Marianna Total
Ponds/Lakes 3 1 3 7
Protected Springs 2 0  0 2
Cattle (per head) 0 0 650 650
Overhead Irrigation 7 10 7 24
Irrigation Wells 3 6 3 12
Tractors 14 7 11 32
Fence (per ft.) 20,112 29,907 214,368 264,387

Facilities at NFREC

NFREC-Quincy

The programs at NFREC-Quincy cover a very diverse range of crops, including vegetables, row crops, forages, ornamentals, tree fruits, and forests for pulp, fiber and energy. The research and extension efforts include production and management, breeding, variety evaluations, pest management, nutrient management, irrigation management, weed control, and wildlife management. NFREC-Quincy is the home of the main office for the NFREC and houses the office of the Northwest Florida Extension District Director. It also houses one of the state-wide plant diagnostic laboratories. The campus encompasses approximately 1000 acres of irrigated and non-irrigated land including over 300 acres of forest and associated wetlands.

NFREC-Marianna

NFREC-Marianna is a 1300 acre campus that focuses on agronomic and beef cattle research and education. It houses the Feed Efficiency program that is the largest of its kind researching subtropical cattle. The beef cattle research program deals with beef cattle production, genetics and breeding; and is the home of the Florida Bull Test facility. Another important component of this campus is the breeding and production programs in annual peanuts, bahaia grass, perennial peanut and winter forages. This campus also houses a scale trial of the Sod Based Rotation program which addresses conservation agriculture in a rotation that incorporates peanuts, cotton and pasture with or without cattle.

NFREC-Suwannee Valley (Live Oak)

(FKA Suwannee Valley Agricultural Extension Center (SVAEC)) is a unit of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). The center was created by the Florida Legislature in 1947 and began operation on November 1, 1950 as the Suwannee Valley Agriculture Experiment Station. As of February 2019, the center was reassigned under North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC), becoming one of three centers under the NFREC umbrella. In the early days, the primary objective of the Experiment Station was to serve the producers of flue-cured tobacco, cotton, soybeans, peanuts, corn, and pasture forages in Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union counties. In 1953 the Experiment Station acquired land of its own and a 300-acre farm was purchased near Live Oak. NFREC Suwannee Valley is unique among UF/IFAS Centers, along with the Center at Hastings, in that there is currently no academic/research department faculty assigned to the unit. There are four Regional Specialized Extension Agent positions located at NFREC Suwannee Valley. Therefore, NFREC Suwannee Valley has been designated as an extension demonstration unit focusing on demonstration and applied research projects supporting county Extension programs in Florida. Research projects are carried out at SVAEC under direction of research faculty largely from Gainesville, but also NFREC-Quincy.