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Hernando Today

'From conception to consumption'

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: October 29, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - When shoppers go to the grocery store and pick up three pounds of ground chuck or roast beef, they seldom think of the process leading up to the meat sitting in the refrigerated butcher aisle.
Sam Coleman does. He is involved with the cows that yield the meat "from conception to consumption,' he says.

And the starting point of that process begins at Brooksville's Subtropical Agricultural Research Station (STARS), a 3,800-acre U.S Department of Agriculture beef cattle research facility at Chinsegut, off U.S. 41.

Coleman is the research leader for the 15-member team of scientists and other personnel at the site, which operates in cooperation with the University of Florida and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Research Sciences.

It is one of only 100 such research facilities of its kind in the country.

This past Monday, Coleman took a group of people and a Hernando Today reporter on a tour of the sprawling complex, which is scattered among three separate farms along U.S. 41 and Lake Lindsey Road.

These days, Coleman is beaming because the U.S. House of Representatives this month voted to award $1 million in federal funds to STARS, ensuring the research facility will stay open at least another year.

Without that infusion, Coleman says he probably would have been forced to close because of budget reductions. He had already lost two scientists and a technician.

"We were running on bare bones," Coleman says as he returned to his Chinsegut headquarters after visiting the Lake Lindsay cattle farm.

The focus is on producing better-tasting meat and more-efficient production, which ultimately translates to more-affordable consumer prices, Coleman said.

"The goal is efficiency," he said.

Also along on the tour this day are George and Eleanor Marholin, who wanted to see for themselves the operations at STARS.

They are now big boosters of the research center and plan to counter some disparaging remarks they said were made recently during a meeting at the Department of Constitutional Protection, a nonprofit education group headed up by civic activist Jason Sager.

"What they're doing here will give more meat to people and be a big help to the economy," Eleanor Marholin said. "This $1 million funding will save jobs. They would have actually had to close down."

The dedication among the scientists "is just unbelievable," she says.

George Marholin said several DCP members described STARS as a rundown place of overgrown grass and that giving $1 million for its continued operation would be a waste of taxpayer money.

Far from it, he said.

The work in cattle genetics could be a lifesaver for future generations of consumers, he said.

Coleman said the money will allow him to hire back three scientists and repair cattle fences and buildings.

The scientists experiment with genetic diversity and cross-breeding of three different kinds of cattle breeds that thrive in Florida: Angus, American Brahman and Romosinuano. Researchers also grow different kinds of grass for foraging.

Coleman said the funding boosts his budget from $1.2 million to $2.1 million.

"Each year, this facility faces shortfalls, which jeopardizes (its) ability to operate, as well as the livelihoods of everyone who depends on the facility," said U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, after casting her vote for the federal funding.

The $1 million "ensures the long-term success of a local industry," she said in a prepared statement.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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