By LINDA CHION KENNEY
For 67 years the Busciglio family milked cows in the Palm River-Clair Mel area, back when the industry in Hillsborough County was growing and thriving, and for decades the end to local dairy farming was nowhere in sight.
On Nov. 3 at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds in Dover, tribute was paid to Sammy Busciglio and his son, Jeff, as recipients of the 2022 Harvest Award for Farm Family of the Year.
The significance of closing Tower Dairy on south 78th Street is not lost upon Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White, who grew up in Gibsonton in agriculture himself.
“At one time there were 60 dairies in Hillsborough County, owned and operated by families like the Busciglios,” White said. “I can remember a lot of those dairy farms, particularly throughout the Brandon and Riverview areas. Now there are none, having given way to other things. Certainly, we have some nostalgia there.”
Tower Dairy Facebook Photo
One of the many dairy cows they had at the dairy farm.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White, right, shakes hands with Sammy Busciglio, who, on behalf of the Busciglio family, received the 2022 Harvest Award for Farm Family of the Year.
Brothers Sammy, left, and Norman Busciglio
So it is for Sammy Busciglio’s daughter Samantha, who said she was blessed to grow up on a dairy farm and to show cows at fairs and festivals, and for her uncle, Norman Busciglio, who said the farm closed in 2017, with family members in attendance that last day, shedding tears and holding fast to their memories.
“It was truly an honor, for 67 years, for the family to have a dairy farm, and to be the last ones to close out that chapter in Hillsborough County,” Samantha Busciglio said. “We love the dairy business. It’s our whole lives.”
“I think they would be happy we carried the farm as long as we did,” said Norm Busciglio, who noted the early days of the farm under his father, Joe Busciglio, and his brothers, Sam and Joe Romano, and the scores of Busciglio relatives who lent their sweat to the farm as well. “It had to end some time.”
As for Sammy Busciglio, he said he felt “terrible” closing the farm in Hillsborough County and that he deeply appreciates the Harvest Award that cements the Busciglio family legacy. “I never dreamed this was going to happen,” Sammy Busciglio said. “I had no idea.”
Commissioner Stacy White read from prepared remarks a litany of reasons why the Busciglios are this year’s farm family of the year, starting with how the love of dairy farming was passed down from generation to generation.
“As a child, Sammy followed his dad around and learned the life of a dairy farmer,” White said. “Moving forward in time, Sammy’s children began showing dairy cattle at the local shows. This interest in showing was only part of the story because they also helped around the farm and learned that it wasn’t about what happened in the show ring but what had to happen on the farm first.”
Linda Chion Kenney photos
Sammy Busciglio, left, with daughter Samantha, holding the 2022 Harvest Award for Farm Family of the Year.
Cattle shows benefited as well from awards sponsored by Sammy Busciglio, White said, and area youth were allowed to milk their animals at Tower Dairy, “so they could be milked as they were bred to do.”
White further noted that Jeff Busciglio not only learned from his father how to be a dairy farmer but also “spent a great deal of time promoting the industry and milk products through Florida Dairy Farmers,” a farmer-funded organization that works to enhance the industry’s image and increase milk and dairy product sales statewide.
“Jeff also continued sponsoring awards at local dairy shows, even though they no longer reside in Hillsborough County,” White said. The Busciglio family, he added, “remains committed to agriculture and the dairy industry, having moved to Gay, Georgia, to continue the dairy life.”
Yet, still and forever more, “Tower Dairy has the legacy of being the last dairy farm in Hillsborough County,” White said. “Their roots began here.”
