UF/IFAS Extension and 4-H — Indian River County, Florida

UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County works from 7961 58th Avenue in Vero Beach on weekdays from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM, shutting on national holidays, phone (772) 226-4330.

The office flags the move in capital letters above the new address on its staff and contact page (UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County staff and contact page). The same page explains the setup. It describes itself as an off-campus UF/IFAS branch that brings university research to county residents, supported by the Board of County Commissioners, UF and the USDA. The page traces that arrangement to the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which created the Cooperative Extension Service as a partnership of land grant universities, the USDA and county governments, and notes that every county in the United States has one.

One loose end remains on the website. Page footers across the site, and the contact box on the exam page, still print the old 1800 27th Street address in Vero Beach (license testing page), while the home page lists 58th Avenue (UF/IFAS Indian River home page). The 58th Avenue address is the current one. Agents also answer by phone or email, which the home page lists as the way to get timely help without a drive from Fellsmere or Sebastian.

Indian River County Master Gardener volunteers run plant clinics in Vero Beach every weekday and in Sebastian on Wednesday mornings, test soil pH for free and answer lawn, insect and landscape questions.

The clinic schedule is on the county Master Gardener page (IRC Master Gardener Program). At the Extension office the desk is staffed Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon, with a lunch gap from noon to 1. In the north county, volunteers sit at the North IRC Library at 1001 Sebastian Blvd. (CR512) on Wednesdays from 10:00 to noon. The page lists what they handle: identifying plants and common insects, diagnosing plant problems, naming wildlife that damages a yard, advising on landscape plants, showing pruning and teaching children to garden at school. The Master Gardener line is (772) 226-4324.

Soil tests split two ways. A household pH check costs nothing for county residents through the horticulture program at 58th Avenue, while nutrient analysis goes to the UF/IFAS SoilsLab under that lab's fee schedule (Environmental Horticulture). The program also posts monthly topics; on October 12, 2026 the Indian River County page listed lawn insect pests and the lychee erinose mite, flagged as a lychee pest of concern.

Joining takes commitment. Training for new Indian River County volunteers meets two mornings a week for ten to twelve weeks between April and June, after an application, interview and background check, and the University of Florida charges a fee for it. Volunteers then owe a minimum of yearly service hours and annual continuing education to keep the Florida Master Gardener title.

Indian River County growers have an agriculture agent at 58th Avenue and a commercial fruit specialist who also covers St. Lucie County, and applicator license exams now run online through the state.

At 58th Avenue, the Extension Director also serves as the agriculture agent, working with farmers, ranchers and growers who produce fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy for market (Agriculture and Natural Resources). Topics linked from that page run from beef herds and pasture forage to industrial hemp and small farm enterprises, which fits the home page's own summary of the county's farm history as cattle and citrus.

Commercial fruit is handled across the county line. A two-county fruit program teaches commercial producers to manage nutrients, water and energy sustainably, and its specialist meets growers in Indian River and St. Lucie counties from an office at 8400 Picos Road, Suite 101, Fort Pierce (Fruit and Field Crops Program). For a grove owner west of Vero Beach or near Fellsmere, that agent is the commercial fruit contact.

License testing left UF/IFAS Extension offices, the Vero Beach office among them, on October 1, 2025. Since then, fertilizer and pesticide applicator exams are no longer proctored by UF/IFAS Extension offices and run on the FDACS platform Everblue instead (License Testing). A remote exam on the applicant's own laptop or desktop costs $32, an exam at an in-person test site costs $59, and the fee is due on every attempt, passed or not.

Children aged 5 to 18 from Sebastian to Vero Beach join Indian River County 4-H by choosing one of the county's clubs, then a parent enrolls them on Florida 4-H Online, at $25 a year for members 8 to 18.

The Extension office at 58th Avenue runs the program, and its 4-H page sets the age rules: members range from 5 to 18, and special and large animal projects open at 4-H age 8, with age fixed each September 1 (Indian River County 4-H Youth Development). Clubs are the base level, and members can move up to county, district, state, national and international events. Adults who want to help start with a volunteer orientation scheduled by the Indian River County Extension office.

Enrollment follows a set order (4-H Club Resources). A family picks a club, the leader explains meeting times and project duties, members and a parent sign the county forms, and the parent registers the family online. The $25 Florida 4-H fee for ages 8 to 18 is paid in that online step, while the club leader collects the $15 Cloverbud fee and passes it to the Indian River County Extension office.

The 2024-2025 club list shows a farm-centered program. Of the twelve clubs listed, two were paused and the remaining ten were taking new members in 2025, and citrus appears in every club's project list among its projects, alongside swine, steer, poultry, goats, rabbits and horses. The list gives leader contacts but no meeting towns, so families in Sebastian, Fellsmere or Vero Beach ask the Extension office at indian@ifas.ufl.edu which club meets nearby.

Indian River County 4-H members spend a summer week at 4-H Camp Cloverleaf, show and sell projects at the Firefighters Fair, held in March in both 2025 and 2026, and can apply to the county 4-H Foundation for awards and scholarships.

Summer camp is a long tradition for clubs across the county, from Fellsmere to Vero Beach. Indian River County 4-H has sent campers away for half a century, according to the county camp page, and each summer they spend a week at 4-H Camp Cloverleaf, a lakeside camp in Highlands County (IRC 4-H Camp).

The fair is the public showcase. IRCYLH (Indian River County Youth Livestock and Horticulture Inc.) stages its youth show and auction alongside the Indian River County Firefighters Fair, giving 4-H and FFA members a place to exhibit and, where it applies, sell animal, horticulture, home economics and leisure arts projects (Extension fair page). On October 12, 2026 the Extension's fair page was still headed with the 2025 fair dates, March 14-23. According to the Foundation page, the 2026 youth show was part of the Firefighters' Fair held March 13-22, 2026 at the Indian River County Fairgrounds; neither page listed a 2027 date that day.

Money comes from the Indian River County 4-H Foundation, which dates to 2008, operates as a nationally chartered nonprofit under a volunteer board, and counts more than $100,000 raised since 2009 (Indian River County 4-H Foundation). For 2026 it listed a senior achievement award of $1,000, $750, $500 and $250 for the top four graduating seniors, plus summer scholarships of $200 each for 4-H Legislature and 4-H University, $100 for ILead and $100 for Horsemanship School. Requests for help with other events must arrive at least two weeks before the event registration deadline. Its meetings run monthly, first Mondays at 6:00 p.m., in Room A1-101 of County Administration Building A, with the public welcome. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the UF/IFAS Extension pages for Indian River County, including the 4-H, fair, camp and Foundation pages.