If you were not paying close attention at the recent South Florida Water Management District meeting, you might have missed the brief announcement from executive director Drew Bartlett about farmers’ phosphorus reductions in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
He stated, “Every August, we give a report on the BMP program in the Everglades Agricultural Area. And they have achieved their goal. The statutory goal is 25%, and they got 65% reduction from baseline for their BMP efforts in that program.”
The report was very matter of fact, but the update is a historic milestone worthy of celebration. To put it simply, Florida farmers in the EAA have far exceeded the requirement to reduce phosphorus in water running off the land. Our financial investments,
our time and our resources are making a real difference to improve the health of water resources in South Florida.
It’s been 30 years since Florida implemented the Everglades Forever Act, declaring that the precious ecosystem is in danger and must be restored. For the last three decades, Florida farmers in the EAA have stepped up to the plate.
We implemented best management practices, which are science-based guidelines developed by University of Florida | Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF|IFAS) and approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). They include nutrient management, irrigation management and water resource protections, such as setbacks and vegetative buffers, and they are proven to prevent excess nutrients from reaching nearby water resources.
Our contributions to this effort total more than $500 million to date, but it’s a worth investment given the outstanding results. It’s inarguably one of the most successful on-farm water cleanup programs in American history.
Not only did we beat our goal this year by a long shot, but we consistently beat the goal every year. Our average annual phosphorus reduction for the last 30 years stands at 57%, more than double what’s required by law.
Since 1996, South Florida farmers have prevented 5,111 metric tons of phosphorus from heading South. That’s equivalent to two Olympic-sized swimming pools or roughly 280 fully loaded semi-trucks. Today, 95% of the Florida Everglades is meeting the strict 10-parts-per-billion water quality standard required under federal law—cleaner than a bottle of water from the store.
Activists are quick to point the finger at farmers for Florida’s water quality woes, but do they realize that we are an important part of the solution? Today, stewardship remains a core principle of ours. While we’ve accomplished a great deal in the last 30 years, we’re not letting up. We will continue to invest in this program. We’ll seek out the latest technologies and innovations to improve our methods. And we’ll work to deliver cleaner water to our region.
We’ll do all this while ensuring a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply for our nation. As farmers, that’s our mission. As Floridians, that’s our promise to you.
Paul Allen is co-owner of R.C. Hatton Farms in Pahokee, Florida. The farm spans 12,000 acres across Florida and Georgia, where they grow sweet corn, green beans, cabbage and sugarcane.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Food is the mission. Stewardship is our promise | Opinion
