You can grow a lot more then you think in Florida, you just have to remember your zone. Agriculture is a very large industry in Florida. While the majority of agricultural dollars are brought in through Valencia oranges (for juice) and tomatoes, there are many more fruits and vegetables you can grow. Remember you are not in a temperate climate anymore, you are in the subtropics or tropics depending on where you are located. Some fruits/nuts/spices that are familiar to you that you can grow are bananas, plantains, oranges, grapefruits, limes, lemons, tangerines, figs, coffee, tea, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, mangos, strawberries, muscadine grapes, vinella beans, pineapple, avocado, coconut palms, oil palm, edible bamboo, dates, currants, gooseberry, blueberries, allspice, watermelons, honeydew melons, musk melons, cantaloupe, bay leaves, cinnamon, cocao (chocolate), curry leaf, black pepper, all kinds of herbs, and much more.
If you are willing to experiment outside of the norm and experience the many other lesser known but also very tasty tropical fruit you may want to take a look at the following web site:
http://mgonline.com/fruit.html there are more then are listed on that site. Run a search for tropical fruit and you will find hundreds.
While most of these foods are outside of your normal diet as it stands now, you can still grow many of the annual crops you grow elsewhere if grown in the right part of the year. Your best growing season is from fall through winter. Summer is the worst time to grow any annual crop due to all the bugs but it can be done and I am doing it right now.
One thing to consider when growing food in Florida is agroforestry. Being from up north you are use to allot of annual crops but if you adjust your mindset you can have the trees generate all the fruits/nuts/spices you need with a small garden to give you those vegetables/herbs/small fruits you are use to.
We get plenty of rain in Florida (unless you are use to the Pacific Northwest).
Itâs funny to hear you act like Pennsylvania gets more rain then Florida, because the facts are we get drenched compared to Pennsylvania. If you donât believe me check the facts (âOnly the facts maâamâ). Check the statistics at the following two URLs:
Florida Rain
Pennsylvania Rain
As far as livestock is concerned, Florida is the second largest beef producing state in the nation. While cattle lose weight during the winter in other states, they keep packing on the pounds during our winter because of the very mild winter and everlasting pasture. You livestock could cool off under those trees I suggested planting if it gets too hot.
I hope I have proved to you that Florida has its place in agriculture. All in all it comes down to what you like. If you donât like the heat I donât blame you, but if you are in Florida air conditioning is just a way of life. If you want snow, well go elsewhere because although it has happened before, it does not snow here! If you want mountains, too bad we donât have those. What we do have are beaches, warm weather, the everglades, and the ocean. If you like freshwater or saltwater fishing, any ocean sports (surfing, jet skiing, buggy boarding, paralleling, wind surfing, water skiing, etc.), warm weather, offloading in the swamps, mountain biking (we have some good trails without the mountains), theme parks, south beach nightlife, then this is the place for you. Floridaâs real estate prices are sky rocketing for a reason. A lot of people like what they find here. I never have been a big fan of the heat but there are many people here who love it. I to love the mountain views, fall colors, and cooler weather found in other states. My personal opinion is itâs getting too crowed here and I will eventually pack up and move. But that does not change the facts, you can grow a lot of food here any way you look at it.