Board approves agricultural projects for water conservation, nutrient reduction

District has funded more than 100 ag cost-share projects since July 2015

PALATKA, Fla., Dec. 15, 2021 — Eleven agricultural projects will share in nearly $880,000 in cost-share funds from the St. Johns River Water Management District to improve water conservation and reduce the volume of nutrients flowing into area waterways. Projects approved by the District’s Governing Board on Tuesday are estimated to collectively conserve 127 million gallons of water a year and reduce total nitrogen by 3,617 pounds and total phosphorus by 1,092 pounds per year.

Cody Estes at his citrus farm in Indian River County. A cost-share award in 2020 helped him install a weather station to save millions of gallons of Florida’s water.

“I’m grateful to be able to partner with the agricultural community as we work together to increase irrigation efficiency for water conservation and to reduce nutrient loading to the St. Johns River and its tributaries,” said District Executive Director Mike Register.

Projects receiving funds are:

• Alpha Fern Company, Volusia County, Irrigation retrofit with pump controls
• Far Reach Ranch, Lake County, Pump automation, fertigation
• Hoopers Landscape Nursery, Lake County, Pump automation
• IMG Citrus, Indian River County, Irrigation retrofit, pump automation
• May and Whitaker BB, LLC, Lake County, Irrigation retrofit, precision fertilizer application equipment
• May and Whitaker Family Partnership, LTD, Lake County, Irrigation retrofit
• McGregors Greens, LLC, Lake County, Recirculating hydroponics
• Orange Bend Harvesting, Inc., Lake County, Irrigation retrofit
• Sun Ag, LLC, Indian River County, Convert to surface water, irrigation retrofit
• Tollison Foliage, LLC, Volusia County, Precision fertilizer application equipment
• West River Groves, LLC, Indian River County, Soil moisture sensor, riser culvert

Examples of projects eligible for cost-share funding include, but are not limited to, irrigation conversions, irrigation retrofits, soil moisture sensors, weather stations, fertigation and precision fertilizer placement equipment.

This year the District received 16 applications seeking funds through the Districtwide Ag Cost-Share Program for projects in the 15 counties outside the Tri-County Agricultural Area (portions of Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties), which has its own separate funding program for row crop projects.

The Districtwide Agricultural Cost-Share Program began in 2015 to assist farmers and growers with implementing projects that conserve water and result in nutrient loading reductions. To date, 118 projects have been approved for funding since the program’s inception.

For information about District cost-share programs, visit www.sjrwmd.com/localgovernments/funding.