Cost-Share to Float 13 More Water-Wise Farm Projects in Florida

Posted by Paul Rusnak|October 25, 2019

Thirteen agricultural projects will be sharing in $1.56 million from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) to improve water conservation and reduce nutrient loading to area waterways. The projects recently approved by the district’s governing board are estimated to collectively conserve 2.37 million gallons of water each day and reduce total nitrogen by 38,222 pounds per year and total phosphorus by 5,483 pounds per year.

Per the ranking approved by the SJRWMD board, the following projects will receive funds this cycle:

Lake Jem Farms Inc., Lake County, precision fertilizer application and irrigation conversion
Cherrylake Inc., Lake County, precision fertilizer application
Hooper’s Landscape and Nursery, Lake County, irrigation retrofit and soil moisture sensors
Sun Ag LLC, Indian River County, conversion to surface water
Hammond Groves/Sebastian River Farms, Indian River County, tailwater recovery and reuse
Triple J Farms, Brevard County, GPS controlled land forming technology
West River Groves, Indian River County, polypropylene ground cover and weather station
Orange Bend Harvesting Inc., Lake County, precision fertilizer application
May and Whitaker Family Partnership Ltd., Lake County, precision fertilizer application
London Farm and Cattle LLC, Marion County, bio-carbon application
Wild Goose Farms LLC/Sevorg Trading Co., Marion County, precision fertilizer application
Mercer Botanicals Inc., Orange County, irrigation retrofit
Twenty Twenty Groves, Indian River County, irrigation retrofit and pump automation

According to SJRWMD, it received 22 applications for projects seeking funds through the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 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 agricultural projects.

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 SJRWMD cost-share programs, click here.