'With nearly 30 years of data showing significant progress, it’s clear that farmers in the EAA have done more to improve water quality in South Florida than any other private group in state history.'
Farmers within South Florida’s Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) in the last year saw phosphorus discharges at 63% below a baseline set from 1979 until 1988 under the Everglades Forever Act.
The 1994 law aimed to push those phosphorus levels down, requiring farmers to cut phosphorus by 25% from that previously established base period.
Farmers easily hit that mark in recent years. They have, on average, been 57% below the baseline on an annual basis since 1996. And the newest report from the South Florida Water Management District showed farmers once again beating that mark in Water Year 2023.
“Despite the challenges farmers face daily including storms, heat and an occasional drought, they have once again achieved remarkable results by exceeding some of the most stringent water quality standards in the country,” said Ryan Duffy, Director of Corporate Communications for U.S. Sugar.
“With nearly 30 years of data showing significant progress, it’s clear that farmers in the EAA have done more to improve water quality in South Florida than any other private group in state history.”
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