Dec 14, 2021

Florida Commissioner Nikki Fried names 2021 Woman of the Year in Agriculture

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) announced Dec. 3 Angela TenBroeck as the 2021 Woman of the Year in Agriculture.

The “Woman of the Year in Agriculture” award, sponsored by FDACS in conjunction with the Florida State Fair Authority, is presented to recipients during the Florida State Fair in Tampa. Past recipients of the award have come from all parts of the industry, including cattle, vegetables, timber, citrus, row crops, equine, horticulture, tropical fruits, sugar cane, dairy, agricultural journalism and agricultural education and outreach.

“It’s my honor to announce Angela TenBroeck as Florida’s Woman of the Year in Agriculture,” Fried said in a news release. “Angela has made a tremendous contribution to our state with her commitment to sustainability, decreasing food insecurity, and improving communities across Florida. She is a true inspiration to women in the agricultural industry and we are so proud to honor her with this award.”

TenBroeck is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in both the public and private sector. A fourth-generation farmer, TenBroeck and her family have been hydroponic farmers in North Florida since the 1970s. TenBroeck is also a professional educator with over fifteen years in middle and high school education, with an emphasis in STEM and health curricula.

In 2013, her passion for sustainability and community outreach led her to launch the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Excellence and Conservation, a non-profit with a goal to change the lives of local farmers by offering a model for modern and sustainable agriculture. In addition to managing and advising on agricultural products across the United States and the Caribbean, TenBroeck runs Aqua Hortus, a leading-edge company that develops and operates controlled-environment facilities growing the highest quality and safest produce year-round, regardless of climate.

Another of her projects, Foodery Farms, changes the way brownfield sites are used in communities with food insecurities. Foodery Farms demonstrates every modality of growing produce available including container, towers, planter boxes, serpentine systems, aquaponics, and recirculating deep-water culture beds. It serves not only as a local urban farm in Jacksonville, but as an education and training hub for formerly incarcerated women looking to improve their lives and become contributors to the local food system.

TenBroeck’s efforts have also led to the development and launch of Trader Hill Farm, a commercial aquaponics farm in Hilliard Florida, Worldwide Aquaponics, a commercial aquaponics farm in East Palatka, and numerous other locations in Florida and abroad.