South Florida Water Management District: August Agricultural Highlights Report

SFWMD Governing Board Prioritizes Land Purchase Above Quality/Storage Projects

In the midst of sharp criticism, the South Florida Water Management District governing board decided to accept an amended agreement to purchase 26,800 acres for $197 million ($7,350/acre) with closing by October 11, 2011.  The contract includes various options on the remaining 153,200 acres of U. S. Sugar Corporation property as follows:

• An exclusive 3-year option to purchase either a specified 46,800 acres or the entire 153,200 acres at a fixed price of $7,400/acre.

• After the exclusive option period, a subsequent 2-year, non-exclusive option to purchase the approximately 46,800 acres at Fair Market Value.

• A subsequent 7-year, non-exclusive option to purchase the remaining acres at Fair Market Value.

The land consists of two parcels, 8,900 acres of sugarcane acres located east of Lake Okeechobee and 17,900 acres of diseased citrus located in southern Hendry County.  A map is located on page 2 of this report.

U.S. Sugar Corporation (USSC) is allowed to lease the 8,900 acres of sugarcane land at $150 per acre to continue current operations and may continue to utilize the citrus land at no cost.  USSC must pay property taxes while leasing the properties.

There is a $10 million default fee if the contract does not close.  Although SFWMD notes that the fee will not be imposed if action is taken by a Federal Judge, I am unable to find this protection in the contract.

It should be noted that SFWMD has 129,740 acres of land that are awaiting water quality/storage projects.  This figure does not include the contractual acres with USSC.  Included in this figure is the EAA Reservoir (31,600 acres) which Federal Judge Federico Moreno ordered construction to resume on April 1.  This construction halted shortly after the original USSC contract was announced several years ago.  The governing board is taking a large gamble in assuming that this purchase will take the place of the EAA Reservoir construction and appease Judge Moreno’s order, especially since the purchase price does not include any water storage/quality improvements.

Florida Farm Bureau continues to support the sale of land with a willing buyer and seller though we contend that the best management of property is achieved when it stays in the hands of private landowners.  We have strongly opposed this purchase because the purchase by the District not only takes the land out of private ownership, a plan does not exist to fund utilization of the land for water storage or quality projects.

Determining Past Wetland Harm and the Relation to Permitting

SFWMD has begun a series of forums to ‘solicit ideas, concerns, and solutions from the public regarding the issue of past wetland harm as it relates to water use permitting’.  Most potential impacts relate to the cone of influence surrounding a groundwater well.

As the majority of agricultural permits in South Florida are for surface water, this typically does not affect farmers.  That being said, there is some potential to influence the conditions for permit application or renewal.

It is important that a permit holder be held harmless of any impacts if they have complied with the conditions of their permit.  None-the-less, how an impact would be considered upon renewal of a permit is yet to be determined.  Setting an acceptable baseline in which to judge future harm seems to be fundamental to the process.

Florida Farm Bureau staff will stay involved helping to represent the farming community in the discussion.

EAA and C-139 Basins Reach BMP Goals to Improve Water Quality

For the 15th consecutive year, water flowing from farmlands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) achieved phosphorus reductions that were better than the 25 percent reduction required by law. With the continued implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs), results for the 2010 monitoring period show a 41 percent phosphorus reduction in the 470,000-acre EAA farming region south of Lake Okeechobee.

In the C-139 Basin, a BMP program has been in place for the past eight years with the goal of reducing phosphorus discharges below historic levels. For the 2010 monitoring period, the target load was 53.6 metric tons. Data show the actual mass of phosphorus discharged from the basin during that time was 41.9 metric tons, or nearly 22 percent less than the target.

BMPs are being implemented throughout South Florida on numerous crops.  Farmers are finding that not only is water quality improved, in many instances inputs to produce the crop can be reduced due to better distribution of nutrients through advanced delivery methods and water management.

Vegetable and Agronomic Crop BMP Survey Announced by FDACS

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) has announced that they will be sending out a BMP Implementation Assurance Survey the first week of September to vegetable and agronomic crop farmers enrolled in the vegetable and agronomic crop BMP program.  FDACS noted that the purpose of the survey is to provide FDACS with a statewide overview of the applicability and use of the practices contained in the manual.  It is their goal to obtain input on the effectiveness of applying various practices.  The collective responses will be used to help measure the success of the BMP program.

Lake Okeechobee Water Level Consistent

Over the past month, the level of Lake Okeechobee has remained fairly stable at just over 13.5 feet NGVD.  Due to the lack of widespread rainfall over the region and some basin runoff in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie basins, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reduced releases to lower the lake level.  Although the long term outlook for the remainder of the tropical rainy season is above normal, no consistent organized activity is in the tropics.

As Lake Okeechobee is the bellwether instrument for South Florida water supply, it is imperative that the lake is at a reasonable level at the end of the rainy season (November) to supply ample water through the dry season (December – May).