100 Club

Is your firm part of the 100 Club? Any firm with two or more attorneys and 100% membership in the LCBA qualifies.

Absolute Law, P.A. All Injuries Law Aloia, Roland, Lubell & Morgan, PLLC. Arend & Sisk, P.A. Associates & Bruce L. Scheiner, P.A. Banker, Lopez & Gassler, P.A. Boy Agnew Potanovic, PLLC. Boyle & Leonard & Anderson, P.A. Burandt, Adamski, Feichthaler & Sanchez, PLLC. Calvo & Calvo, Attorneys at Law Camadeco Law Group Cole Scott & Kissane, P.A. - Fort Myers Coleman & Coleman, PLC. Freidin & Inglis, P.A. Garvin Law Firm Geraghty, Dougherty, Edwards & Stockman, P.A. Goldberg|Noone|Abraham Personal Injury Atttorneys Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz, P.A. GrayRobinson, P.A. Green, Schoenfeld & Kyle, LLP Hahn, Loeser & Parks, LLP Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. John Webb Legal Group, P.L. Kagan Law Firm Kelleher Law Knott Ebelini Hart Law Offices of Dennis L. Webb, P.A. Law Offices of Michael M. Raheb, Criminal Lawyer Law Offices of Scott T. Moorey Lee County Legal Aid Society, Inc. Light Path Law, P.A. Men's Rights Law Firm O'Halloran & Simmons, PLLC Osterhout & McKinney, P.A. Patrone, Kemp & Bentley, P.A. Pavese Law Firm Roetzel & Andress, L.P.A. Rubinstein & Holz Scarmozzino / King Trial Lawyers Sheldon E. Finman, P.A. Sheppard, Brett, Stewart, Hersch, Kinsey & Hill, P.A. Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. Strayhorn and Persons, P.L. Viles & Beckman, LLC Wilbur Smith, LLC Zinn Law

If you feel your firm is eligible, email a listing of your attorneys to admin@leebar.org and we will let you know.

Attorney Joe North

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Joe North has been helping clients with injury cases and death cases for 30 years.

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14241 Metro Parkway, Suite 200 Fort Myers

New Agriculture Trends are taking Root

In Florida, agriculture has a rich legacy that is almost as old as the land itself. The history of Florida agriculture dates back before European contact, when some tribes farmed the land. The Spanish arrived with cattle in the 1500s, and over time, cattle ranching, along with citrus, sugar cane and vegetable production, took hold in the state. During the last years of the Civil War, Florida was the main supplier of beef to the Confederate army west of the Mississippi. The Florida

Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reports there are 47,400 farms across Florida encompassing 9.7 million acres, and the average farm size is 205 acres, which has been increasing over recent years.

Florida’s agricultural industry is a strong economic driver.

According to statistics published by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for 2019, the most recent year available, Florida’s farm cash receipts amounted to $7.67 billion. Nationally, Florida ranks second in the value of floriculture cash receipts at $951 million, third in miscellaneous crop cash receipts with a value of $1.45 billion, and 18th in total cash receipts.

In support of a recent Florida Farm Bill, Senate President Wilton

Simpson said, “The state of Florida is committed to preserving

Florida’s farms, which are legacy businesses that contribute to our nation’s food supply and billions of dollars to our state’s economy.”

The Lee County Bar Association monthly meeting in

November is looking at the state of Florida agriculture, including legacy challenges, succession planning, operational costs, foreign competition and land development.

The panel speakers are Al Curry, Ricky

Pritchett, Bruce Strayhorn and Kate

English.

Al Curry is the owner of Sweet

Cypress Ranch, which provides hay, feed and trailers for livestock to farmers located in Southwest Florida. Ricky Pritchett is a third generation native to Lee County, and currently lives in North Fort Myers with his wife and 3 daughters. His family has been in Florida agriculture for over 70 years, and currently have a cow-calf cattle operation on 3,000 acres in Lee and Charlotte Counties. Ricky is currently the president of Lee County Farm Bureau, and he has served on the board of directors since 2013. He is also a marketing consultant with Carter-Pritchett Advertising, and a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University. Attorney Bruce Strayhorn is a member of a family with 100+ years of legal and public service to Southwest Florida. Strayhorn has a unique knowledge of Southwest Florida’s history, decades of involvement in planning and growth, and a noted insight into current issues. Born and raised in Fort Myers, Strayhorn was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1977. After a few years, he joined the firm of Strayhorn & Strayhorn, which was founded in Fort Myers in 1915 by his grandfather and great uncle, Guy M. Strayhorn and Leonidas Y. Redwine. Attorney Kate English is a partner at Pavese Law, and she concentrates her practice on agricultural, environmental and land use issues. She is a native of Southwest Florida, and her family has farmed here for more than 100 years. English’s greatgrandmother settled in Alva in 1876 and established the family farm. In Al Curry addition to working as an attorney,

Ricky Prittett Attorney Bruce Strayhorn

Attorney Kate English

New Agriculture Trends are taking Root

English works for the family farming operations. Before entering law school, Kate English worked as a field representative for a citrus grower’s cooperative. Most Farms Are Family-Owned Businesses

English points out that at their cores, most farms, regardless of size, are family-owned businesses, and facing all the same challenges and issues that other family business owners face. These challenges require legal expertise. When discussing the needs of agricultural businesses for legal services, English says, “Do we need a broader engagement from the Bar Association to this group? Absolutely.” English explains the farmers have “a huge capital investment, and they typically don’t have a lot of liquidity. They need to be efficient and super cost-conscious in the way they access legal help.” Farmers and ranchers in Florida deal with complex legal issues covering many areas of legal practice, including contracts and sales, federal and state administrative law governing everything from water to environmental protection, to labor, real property, land use and zoning, and business succession planning including estate and tax law. English says, “Regulatory issues for small agricultural families have been a huge challenge, especially if there’s not a lawyer in the family.” Although many legal issues are common from one farm to the next, there is not a one-size-fits all approach for agricultural law issues. Every farm operates and is managed differently, which requires various legal documents, like leases, business plans, and estate plans, to be tailored to each farming operation.

Farming operations are impacted by consumer choices, governmental decisions and special-interest organizations. Consumers express concerns over use of chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and genetic modifications. Animal rights groups have successfully pushed legislation that controls which production practices may be used by farmers and ranchers. Environmental groups successfully seek to have animals listed under the Endangered Species Act, which affects land use. Other government laws and regulations relate to labor, land ownership, contracts, food safety and environment. The Impact of US Trade Law on Florida AgricultureOnce in your life you need a doctor, English says, “The a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, biggest impediment, to date, to continuing but every day, three times a day, family farms in Florida has been loss you need a farmer. of revenue caused by the contraction of exclusive market windows for Florida produced fruits and vegetables. Trade decisions have led to rising competition from fruits and vegetables produced in other countries with the support of their governments through favorable tax treatment for capital investment or outright financial support. The costs of farming in the United States are higher than the costs of farming in many countries due to high land costs, high levels of regulation to protect consumers and the environment, and maintaining a legal work force. Foreign competitors, supported by their governments and with favorable land and labor costs and lower regulatory compliance requirements can produce food for far less, even when transportation is factored in.” On August 30, 2021, the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS) released an 84-page report documenting how “unfair trade practices” allowed U.S. markets

to be filled with fruits and vegetables imported from Mexico. This situation cost Florida’s seasonal crop farmers up to 10-20% in annual “lost” sales – an estimated $4 billion – which “equates to between 17,870 to 35,741 Florida jobs lost.” Transfer of Land

It is typical for Florida’s small farms to be multi-generational, which provides its own set of special dynamics that affect operations, management and decision-making. Attention also needs to be paid to estate planning and succession planning as the farms transition from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, for many multi-generational agriculture families, the next generation has decided not to take over the land and the family ceases operations. That kind of liquidation event is very hard for the family because they look at farming as their legacy. English points out that in Southwest Florida, many farmers have not diversified; rather, they have sold their land. Farmland that was close to an area with a growing population has been sold for development. Farmland farther away from populated areas has been sold for land conservation. English says we have much less land dedicated to agriculture. Strayhorn agrees. As the population in Florida has increased, cities outgrow their boundaries and the surrounding land, which is typically agricultural, becomes incorporated into the cities. He says the land is valued on the income it can produce, and “it no longer makes sense to grow crops or graze the land.” Strayhorn also remarks that many ranchers and farmers don’t have 401k’s and investment portfolios. Their land is their asset. He explains, “They say, ‘I can shed myself of some of these acres, and that will be my 401k.’” Another recent trend is the ownership of land by the wealthy. Farmland is reported to be a good investment. In 2018, Forbes reported that farmland has yielded returns of at least 10 percent for nearly 50 years. According to The Land Report, the number one private owners of farmland in America are Bill and Melinda Gates.

These wealthy landowners recognize farmland is a lot more than just an investment; rather, it is someone’s livelihood. The landowners are not farming the land themselves. Instead, they are renting out the farmland to farmers. English says, “A number of farmland investment groups are active in Florida in many rural counties, ranging from Bill Gates to groups of private investors. The normal practice for such groups is to purchase farmland and then lease back to those who were most likely previously farming it, either as the landowner or as a tenant. The idea being that land in Florida, regardless of its actual use, will always have significant value.” The collapse of adequate revenue to carry production costs is altering the agricultural landscape in Florida. English says, “I think we’re in a time of profound change. Sophisticated companies will produce a great amount of food in a small space.”