Five hundred years ago, nearly a million native people lived on the Florida peninsula. Aside from hunting and gathering, these native people were sustained by a native food system. Fast forward to today, and Florida’s massive agricultural industry is a system under stress. Yaupon Brother’s has re-imagined a native food system with an emergent Yaupon Holly tea industry at the center of the concept. As an important food crop for native americans, Yaupon teas were imbibed for thousands of years, and provided drinkers with an energy boost and healthful properties. As North America’s only native caffeinated plant species, Yaupon Holly holds real promise as an alternative crop for Florida farmers, and an exciting emerging category in native food products. Learn about this amazing native tree, the tea products it produces, and a new emerging agricultural industry.
TOPICS COVERED

• Yaupon specifications & Etymology.
• Historical consumption, rituals involving purity.
• The emergence of colonial acceptance.
• Importation of Yaupon to Europe.
• The East India Company, and British Smear Campaign.
• Extirpation of Native People/ Decline of consumption.
• Today’s Products and market segments.
• Current projects through higher education and on-farm research.
• Cultivating Yaupon – propagation, cultivation, harvesting, crop sales.
• The role of native nurseries.
• Entomology
• Planning for success / future outlook
• Q & A
  
  Fee:$18
  This session is sponsored by AgriStarts