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Southwest Florida is a great place to produce food and other ag products — but only if growers are able to remain profitable. In order to assess what local growers and producers think about the future of Southwest Florida’s agriculture industry, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Center for Agribusiness recently wrapped up a large study titled “Agribusiness in Southwest Florida: The Next 25 years.” A team of researchers conducted in-depth interviews with representatives from 30 local farm operations and compiled what they found in the new report. We talk with the study’s three co-authors to get an overview of what came out of those conversations.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so we’re doing our part to increase awareness about breast cancer and the importance of screening, both self and diagnostic, and learning about how treatments and screenings have evolved since 1985 when Breast Cancer Awareness Month was initiated. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. We get a snapshot of the state of screening and treatment, and risk factors to consider — and we learn about Partners for Breast Cancer Care, a nonprofit that funds breast screening, diagnostic testing, and treatment for uninsured patients in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution remains the gold standard globally when it comes to protecting speech. But our guest says free speech protections cannot be guaranteed without strong support from those who it protects — including supporting others’ right to express ideas you might strongly disagree with. Jacob Mchangama has spent his career tracking free speech trends globally and understanding how it has ebbed and flowed over the course of recorded history. He is director of the Future of Free Speech think tank at Vanderbilt University, a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in Philadelphia, and the author of “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.”

The Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count began on Christmas Day in the year 1900. During the annual count, birdwatchers walk around designated circular areas and count the type, and number of birds they see and hear over the course of the day. The information they collect is used to track bird populations in North and South America, and how they have changed over time. The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary’s Christmas Bird Count covers the sanctuary and its surroundings. This year it’s happening this coming Saturday, Dec. 20 and we talk with the Sanctuary's director to learn more.

Ralph Cantave is a senior Broadcast Journalism major at Florida A&M University. He is a transfer student from St. Maarten where he served as a youth ambassador. Ralph is also a published author and poet. He's been a writer and radio personality since his mid-teens and is a history enthusiast. Cantave enjoys reading, traveling and talking to new people. He also runs a restaurant with his wife Charity on the island.

Republicans in Congress are likely to pass their tax bill this week, raising questions about House Speaker Paul Ryan's future and what, if anything, will happen next year

Mike Moen is the Morning Edition producer and serves as a staff reporter for WNIJ. Every morning, he works with Dan Klefstad to bring listeners the latest Illinois news. He also works with the rest of the news staff on developing and producing in-depth stories. Mike is a Minnesota native who likes movies, history, and baseball. When most people hear his last name, they assume he is 100-percent Scandinavian. But, believe it or not, he is mostly German.

Cheyenne Herron is a news intern at WUSF for the fall of 2016.She is a junior at the University of South Florida studying mass communications with a concentration on public relations. She is interested in journalism because she loves meeting people and learning about what they do. She is an avid runner and has a passion for the arts, especially musical theater. When she’s not working or in class, you can usually catch her at a race or at the Straz Center, seeing the latest Broadway show.

Richard Ivescame to WLRN in September 2000 to begin a new career in radio. Born in Fort Lauderdale, his family moved to Long Island, New York, where he grew up. After graduation from college and an unsatisfying stint in a job that, as he puts it, "paid the bills but for which I had no passion" he found himself contemplating a midlife career change after being laid-off.

Casey Miner is an audio producer and senior editor for KALW’s award-winning news, arts, and culture program Crosscurrents. She’s contributed work to NPR, Marketplace, Mother Jones, The Takeaway, Transportation Nation and PopUp Magazine. If you like rollover fires, fermenting cabbage, and/or taxidermy-in-progress, she suggests you also check out The Field Trip Podcast. Casey is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and enjoys talking with people at length about what exactly they do all day.