GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In collaboration with the Wedgworth Leadership Institute, The University of Florida’s Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (the PIE Center) recently conducted research to track industry leaders’ perceptions of emerging and critical issues within the agriculture and natural resources sectors.

The 30 members of Wedgworth’s Class VIII had the opportunity to list five issues using an online questionnaire distributed in February.  From the issues identified, five were consistently identified by opinion leaders as important to Florida agriculture and natural resources: Water, Labor, Regulation, Food Safety/Regulation and Land Use.

Opinion leaders were able to identify “water” as the most important issue facing Florida ANR sectors but beyond this general finding, opinion leaders were unable to come to clear consensus about a specific water issue.

Additionally, the research reveals that opinion leaders are sending mixed messages to policy makers about the issues involving water in the state of Florida. There are very few consistencies in the messages being shared to policy makers.

A follow-up survey will be sent to Class VIII members in July in an effort to understand more about members’ tendencies as opinion leaders and their propensity to be an “issues-seller.” Additionally, a session will be held at the July seminar in Gainesville to reveal the results and actions steps from the upcoming June survey.

WLI Poll 1 – Final Research Report

Media Release – WLI Tracking Poll

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