UF beekeepers are awaiting legislation that could bring a $3.5 million bee research facility to campus.
Gov. Rick Scott vetoed UF’s proposal for a $2.5 million grant to build a beekeeping research facility in 2013. But UF and the Florida State Beekeepers Association are in the process of regrouping in order to lobby for their cause.
Laurence Cutts, a self-professed Florida bee advocate, said the facility has plenty of support within the beekeeping community.
The original $2.5 million vetoed in 2013 would have gone toward building the facility. With the proposed $3.5 million, the plans include an adjoining auditorium and teaching facility.
Cutts said UF already has architectural plans for the facility and is strategizing to go back to the legislature to get the proposal approved.
Florida TaxWatch, a private company that closely monitors how taxpayer money is spent, compiled a report on the facility this year. The report said the facility would pay for itself and bring in an extra $1 million in profits the first year alone. The addition of the facility to UF would make Florida one of the top beekeeping research facilities in the world, Cutts said.
Tom Nolan, president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association, said the legislative effort is being being spearheaded by the association.
“We are going back to the legislature and we will make a better charge at the governor’s office no matter who is in the governor’s seat this year,” Nolan said.
Cutts said UF has received so much attention in the beekeeping community for its leadership and passion brought by James Ellis, a UF associate professor of entomology.
Lobbying for the funds to build the new facility has already started among beekeepers and their local government. The association hired a lobbyist in 2014 and will resubmit a proposal by the end of this year.
Though beekeeping is not the focal point of the university, Cutts said that the benefits of the new facility would reach beyond UF to the whole U.S.
If the proposal is approved and the grant is received, Cutts said he foresees that the new lab will be built within two years.
“We are going to keep lobbying until we get it,” Cutts said.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 10/14/2014]
