TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Mom always says eat your veggies. Now she’s getting some help with that message from the state of Florida. The Florida Department of Agriculture unveiled its Fresh for Florida Kids Garden in Tallahassee on Monday. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam crouched down along with the children and they used their hand shovels to…

TALLAHASSEE – Subscribing to Florida’s Do Not Call Program is now free, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said today. Floridians who do not wish to receive sales calls may subscribe residential, mobile or paging device telephone numbers to the program. Go to www.fldnc.com to subscribe. The fee, previously $10 for a new subscription, and $5…

The state’s first comprehensive energy bill in five years, considered a more “modest” approach than past diversification efforts and approved with overwhelming bipartisan support by the Legislature, will become law without the governor’s signature. In announcing Friday that he will allow the bill to become law effective July 1, Gov. Rick Scott expressed mixed feelings…

MIAMI – State agriculture workers have collected 44,000 giant African land snails in South Florida so far, but the battle against the shelled creatures continues. The snails are a nonnative species that has infested the southern edge of Miami. So far, officials said, they have found 44,000 of the snails. “They feed on 500 different…

Florida is rich in a variety of energy resources. While it is not an oil state within the boundaries of its land, Florida has renewable energy — solar, biomass and more — with potential that should be explored. Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam, under whose department energy now falls, worked with the Legislature during its January-to-March…

Farm Credit of Northwest Florida entertained almost 200 people Tuesday night at the U.S. 90 Ag Center in Marianna, treating them to a prime rib steak dinner and a speech extolling the economic virtues of farming by Florida’s youthful new Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. The “Jackson County Ag Appreciation Dinner” by Farm Credit was timed…

FORT WALTON BEACH — Nicholas Whitney was sure when he called the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that it would take six to eight weeks to renew his concealed firearm permit. Instead, it took about five minutes. “I was very excited when I called and was told I would get my renewal instantly,”…

Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest mark since March 2009, with numbers for January down 10 percent since November, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity. For the first month of 2012, the seasonally adjusted unemployment mark for the Sunshine State was 9.6 percent, down from 9.9 percent a month earlier and 10.9…

It’s not exactly what he envisioned, but Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is still a happy man. His energy bill restoring millions in expired renewable energy tax credits, among other things, is heading to Gov. Rick Scott. It puts Florida “somewhere between a baby step and a modest step” toward energy independence, but that’s a good thing…

After more than a decade, the fight over regulations to reduce pollution in Florida waterways might be coming to an end. Whether that conclusion will meet the need to protect the state’s water resources remains open to debate. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle recently issued a long-awaited ruling in support of federal Environmental Protection Agency…