Governor Rick Scott is getting mixed reviews for pulling the plug on so-called “water farming.” Scott vetoed more than $31 million that paid landowners to pull up their crops and store polluted runoff.
Audubon of Florida executive director Eric Draper doesn’t want to see money for the program dry up. But he agrees with Scott that the funding should flow from local agencies.
“The Legislature expanded the program and put a huge amount of money into it and it probably grew too fast.”
Draper says the program is an important part of a decades-long attempt to divert dirty water from Lake Okeechobee. Overflow from the lake winds up in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, feeding toxic algae blooms further downstream.
Florida Farm Bureau lobbyist Adam Basford says the industry will work hard next year to change Scott’s mind.
“That’s an important program as we in Florida try to spread the water pie. Alternative sources of water are important as we have a lot of competing interests.”
The program hasn’t won universal praise.
A recent audit from the South Florida Water Management District found taxpayers could save significant money by using public land.
But Stan Bronson, executive director of the Florida Earth Foundation, says part of the idea is to pay back private landowners for becoming better environmental stewards.
“The issue always is, ‘show me the money.’ And so, from my perspective, it seems as though it’s only fair to compensate landowners for taking land out of production.”
The program began in 2005 as an experiment with eight South Florida farmers and ranchers. It grew to include mega landowner Alico of Southwest Florida.
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