Athearn, Kevin

0000-0001-6170-4798

Elderberry and Elderflower (Sambucus spp.): A Cultivation Guide for Florida

David Jarnagin, Ali Sarkhosh, Juanita Popenoe, Steve Sargent, and Kevin Athearn

Sustainability Assessment of Fruit and Nut Crops in North Florida and North Central Florida

Peter C. Andersen, Kevin R. Athearn, Ali Sarkhosh, Mercy A. Olmstead, and Jeffrey G. Williamson

Satsuma Mandarin Budget and Profitability Analysis for North Florida

Kevin R. Athearn, Peter C. Andersen, Bent V. Brodbeck, Lei Lani L. Davis, Clay Olson, Daniel K. Fenneman, Matthew Lollar, Derek Farnsworth, and Michael Perez

Budget Template for Home Canning

Kevin R. Athearn, Amarat Simonne, and Soohyoun Ahn

Costs and Benefits of Vegetable Gardening

Kevin Athearn, Hannah Eason, Liz Felter, Catherine G. Campbell, Jessica M. Ryals, Matthew C. Lollar, Juanita Popenoe, Lorna Bravo, LuAnn Duncan, Christa Court, and Wendy Wilber

This publication serves as a guide for gardeners to estimate the costs of vegetable gardening. But first, we describe the benefits of gardening.

Elderberry and Elderflower (Sambucus spp): Markets, Establishment Costs, and Potential Returns

Kevin Athearn, David Jarnagin, Ali Sarkhosh, Juanita Popenoe, and Steven Sargent

Knowing Your Product Costs: A Primer for Farmers and Food Entrepreneurs

Kevin Athearn, Mark Yarick, and Natasha Parks

This publication provides a basic introduction to product costing for farm businesses and food processing enterprises. It describes cost concepts, provides product costing examples, and briefly discusses software tools that can assist with cost analysis. The publication is intended to help farmers and food entrepreneurs understand product costing concepts and do their own cost calculations to assist with business decisions.

A Review of Watermelon Production and Price Trends from 2010 to 2021

Tara Wade, Kelvin Amon, Kevin Athearn, and Craig Frey

Eight states produce most US watermelons. Most of the fruit (almost 80%) are grown in California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, with Florida leading in domestic production. In 2019, Florida’s watermelon output accounted for 25.2% of total US production, 24.7% of national watermelon acreage, and 29.6% of the overall US crop value. The value of Florida's watermelon output accounted for 13.2% of the state's total vegetable production. This publication provides information on both seeded and seedless conventional watermelon acreage, volume, and pricing for California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas from 2010 through 2021. It is one of a series illustrating trends in Florida’s five most economically important specialty crops, excluding citrus: tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelons, sweet corn, and strawberries. This information will be useful to producers, Extension agents, and others interested in specialty crop commodities trends.

Ginger, Galangal, and Turmeric Production in Florida

Paul Fisher, Rosanna Freyre, Celina Gómez, Brian Pearson, Tatiana Sanchez-Jones, Shawn Steed, Wanda Laughlin, Robert Hochmuth, Jeff Wasielewski, Deah Lieurance, Carrie Harmon, Mathews Paret, Lance Osborne, Kevin Athearn, Steven Sargent, Mengzi Zhang

Ginger, galangal, and turmeric (Figure 1) are emerging crops for Florida production. All of these plants are in the Zingiberaceae family and share most aspects of their production. This publication describes production in containers or the field under Florida conditions to help guide growers interested in ginger, turmeric, and galangal production or expanding their market. All species have been evaluated by the UF/IFAS Assessment of Non-native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas (UF/IFAS Assessment) using the Predictive Tool (an invasion risk assessment) and all present a low risk of invasion in Florida (https://assessment.ifas.ufl.edu).

An Introduction to Florida Commodity Enterprise Budgets: A Tool to Improve Farm Business Planning

Kimberly L. Morgan, Tara Wade, Kevin Athearn, Chris Prevatt, Ariel Singerman, Edward “Gilly” Evans, Trent Blare, Hayk Khachatryan, and Zhengfei Guan

Enterprise budgets help farmers and ranchers estimate expenses, potential revenue, and profit. UF/IFAS provides enterprise budgets for a variety of Florida-grown commodities. These are typically built collaboratively by economists, horticulturists and agronomists, ranchers, and growers. This publication highlights key aspects of the enterprise budget as a planning tool for farm businesses. Includes links to UF/IFAS enterprise budgets and related documents specific to several Florida commodities.

Watermelon Production Budget for North Florida

Kevin Athearn, Marina Burani Arouca, Robert C. Hochmuth, Josh H. Freeman, Nicholas Dufault, Benjamin Broughton, Tatiana Sanchez, Mark Warren, Luke Harlow, and Henry T. Pittman

This publication describes a sample watermelon production budget for a spring season in north Florida. We estimate costs for fixed assets, equipment operation, labor, materials, services, harvesting and marketing. We also estimate yield and potential returns. A budget summary and sensitivity table are provided. A spreadsheet that can serve as a budget template accompanies the manuscript.

Exploring Opportunities for Malting Barley Production in Florida

Charles E. Barrett, Lincoln Zotarelli, Sylvia M. Willis, Jay M. Capasso, Ethan T. Carter, De Broughton, Kevin R. Athearn, Andrew MacIntosh, Alicia N. Halbritter, Matthew T. Smith, Kevin A. Korus, and Daniel J. Leonard

This new 6-page publication of the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department aims to inform Florida growers and the craft brewing and distillery industry about the current knowledge of the potential yield and challenges of barley cultivation in north Florida. Written by Charles E. Barrett, Lincoln Zotarelli, Sylvia M. Willis, Jay M. Capasso, Ethan T. Carter, De Broughton, Kevin R. Athearn, Andrew MacIntosh, Alicia N. Halbritter, Matthew T. Smith, Kevin A. Korus, and Daniel J. Leonard.

Disaster Assistance for Agriculture in Florida following Hurricane Idalia

Shivendra Kumar, Kevin Athearn, Christa Court, Angela Lindsey, Kelly Aue, Lisa Strange, Sudeep Sidhu, Joel Love, Robert Hochmuth, Erin Jones, Emily Beach, Keith Wynn, Dan Fenneman, Jay Capasso, and Eric Simonne

Multiple federal and state agencies provide assistance to qualified agricultural producers following a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. However, the programs change over time, and many producers are not aware of the programs available. The purpose of this publication is to list and briefly describe disaster assistance resources available to agricultural producers in Florida after Hurricane Idalia. To the extent that some information remains the same, this publication could provide guidance to Extension agents, nongovernmental organizations, and producers impacted by future hurricanes. The information was compiled from websites, government documents, and discussions with government agency representatives following Hurricane Idalia.