Board approves ranking of agricultural projects that conserve water, reduce nutrients

District has funded more than 225 ag cost-share projects since 2012

COCOA, Fla., April 13, 2021 — Fifteen agricultural projects will share in cost-share funds from two different funding programs of the St. Johns River Water Management District to assist farmers and growers on projects that conserve water and reduce nutrient loading to area waterways.

“Since the Districtwide Agricultural Cost-Share Program began in July 2015, we have funded 103 partnership projects to help farmers and growers conserve water and reduce nutrient loads,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Governing Board approved the following eight projects to receive Districtwide Agricultural Cost-Share Program funds this cycle:

District cost-share funds assisted a sod farmer on a project to conserve water in Lake County in a previous round of funding.

• Long and Scott Farms Inc., Lake County, for irrigation conversion
• Frog Song Organics LLC, Alachua County, for irrigation retrofit
• Cherrylake Inc., Lake County, for irrigation retrofit
• Walker Farms, Putnam County, for precision fertilizer application equipment
• Twin Lakes-Cherrylake Partnership LLC, Lake County, for pump automation
• Summer Lake-Grace Grover Partnership, Lake County, for pump automation
• Lennon & Wilson, Lake County, for pump automation
• Quality Trees, Marion County, for tailwater recovery and reuse

These projects are estimated to collectively conserve 57 million gallons of water a year and reduce total nitrogen by 6,614 pounds and total phosphorus by 761 pounds per year.

The Districtwide Ag Cost-share Program assists farmers and growers in the 15 counties outside the Tri-County Agricultural Area (TCAA), which includes portions of Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties and falls under the TCAA Water Management Partnership Cost-Share Program.

On Tuesday, the Board also approved seven projects to receive funds through the TCAA cost-share program:

• Yu An Farms LLC, St. Johns County, for irrigation conversion
• Smith Farms Inc, St. Johns County, for irrigation conversion
• Barnes Farm LLLP, St. Johns County, for irrigation conversion
• Boardwalk Farms, Putnam County, for irrigation conversion
• Tater Farms, St. Johns County, for precision fertilizer application equipment
• Huckleberry Farms, Flagler County, for static pile compost aeration
• L&M Farms, Putnam County, for irrigation conversion preparation

These projects are estimated to collectively conserve 26.3 million gallons of water a year and reduce total nitrogen by 10,983 pounds per year and total phosphorus by 2,121 pounds per year.

Since the TCAA partnership formed in Fiscal Year 2012 between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and District, a total of 129 projects have received funding through the cost-share program.

The types of projects eligible for funding include irrigation system retrofits, soil moisture and climate sensor telemetry, rainwater harvesting, subirrigation drain tile and more. The program is entirely voluntary and includes a requirement that funding recipients modify their consumptive use permits to memorialize the actual water reductions resulting from the District’s monetary contribution.

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