13 Florida Farms Flush With New Funding for Water-Saving Projects

Posted by Paul Rusnak|February 14, 2019

The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) has announced 13 agricultural projects across East-Central Florida will share in $1.2 million to improve water conservation and reduce the amount of nutrients flowing into local waterways. Proposed projects, which were reviewed and approved by the SJRWMD governing board, are anticipated to collectively conserve 1.8 million gallons of water each day and reduce total nitrogen by 8,687 pounds per year and total phosphorus by 1,582 pounds per year.

The latest agricultural cost-share projects receiving funding are:

Sun Ag, Inc., Indian River County ($84,358)
Banack Family Partnership, Indian River County ($208,041)
Wilson Training Center, Lake County ($16,931)
Liner Source, Lake County ($6,850)
Alpha Fern Company, Volusia County ($66,848)
Genuine Giant, LLC, Duval County ($198,735)
Roy Brown, Alachua County ($41,325)
Benchmark Farms, Lake County ($38,546)
West Vero Farms, Indian River County ($250,000)
Brown’s Organic Farm, Alachua County ($3,375)
Riverfront Packing, Indian River County ($242,381)
Estes Citrus I, Indian River County ($42,978)
Estes Citrus II, Indian River County ($34,359)

In total, SJRWMD received 17 project applications for funding assistance through the District’s Agricultural Cost-Share Program.

SJRWMD’s Agricultural Cost–Share program began in 2015 to assist farmers and growers with implementing projects that conserve water and result in nutrient loading reductions.