Florida Healthy Farms-Healthy Bays Initiative Releases New Report

Florida farmers, ranchers, and aquaculturists know well that the land and sea are inextricably linked.

For too long, upstream farmers and downstream aquaculturists have been pitted against each other. Farmers are under tremendous pressure to prove they are not using excess nutrients that would pollute waterways. Seafood production is hindered by poor water quality, and, like upstream food production, changing climatic conditions.

Something had to change, so clam and oyster farmers along the Gulf of Mexico and row croppers in the Suwannee Valley came together to form the Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays initiative.

Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays is an initiative of Florida Climate Smart Agriculture (FLCSA) and collaborating partners: Solutions from the Land, the Suwannee River Partnership, and the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences. The initiative, funded by a $100,000 grant from VoLo Foundation, connects upland farmers and ranchers with downstream aquatic ecosystem stakeholders to work together toward a future where healthy and productive ecosystems, bays, rivers, and streams are underpinned and supported by a vibrant, sustainable agricultural and fishing economy.

“You can’t solve problems if you don’t know the source of those problems,” says Randall Dasher, a farmer in Suwannee County and co-chair of the Healthy Farms-Healthy Bays (HF/HB) initiative. “The solution starts with communicating and understanding the issues each of us—upstream farmers and downstream aquaculturists—face so we can fix them together.”

In their new report, “Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays: Harmony Between Land and Sea in Florida,” HF/HB leaders are calling for expanded research on how to protect water quality, support to expedite adoption of actions that work, and improved education and advocacy efforts to show how land conservation and sustainable agriculture practices support healthy and productive ecosystems and the critical services they provide.

Water quality, changing climate, and loss of land to urban development are a few of the complex issues that face Florida.

According to the Agriculture 2040/2070 report, a joint project by the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning and 1000 Friends of Florida, if effective planning and land management strategies are not implemented, the state could lose up to 120 acres of agricultural land daily—totaling nearly 45,000 acres annually. This loss would be driven mainly by development and, to a lesser extent, by rising sea levels, with projections extending through 2070.

The loss of land alters Florida’s ability to support surface water quality, store and purify what becomes drinking water, protect floodplains, provide wildlife habitat, and sequester carbon.

HF/HB leaders envision a future where both land- and water-based farmers have a place at the table discussing policies that affect their life—and all life—on and surrounding the river. They recognize a need to be proactive, not just reactive.

They envision agriculture in Florida to not be defined simply as a sector that produces high-quality commodities such as fruits and vegetables, field crops, livestock, timber, shellfish, and other seafood—though it certainly will. Agriculture will be known as a sector that concurrently filters and stores water, enhances biodiversity, sequesters carbon, supports wildlife, and provides other ecosystem services that improve quality of life in the state.

The group identified a core need for more science and data as well as for community engagement, education, planning, and resilience.

Their two priority goals are:

1. An accelerated Best Management Practice (BMP) research and implementation program.

Best Management Practices are already used by upland farmers to reduce nitrogen run-off and other impacts to water quality and quantity. However, more work is needed to widen the adoption of BMPs in the watershed. Expanded research is also needed as best practices of two decades ago will not be the same best practices of today or tomorrow, as the environment, climate, and market conditions change.

2. Development and implementation of a comprehensive agriculture and aquaculture community engagement, education, and advocacy program.

They want to see greater efforts to show what Florida needs to support healthy and productive ecosystems, bays, rivers, and streams underpinned by a vibrant and sustainable agricultural and fishing economy.

“We all have a vital role to play here,” says Ed Chiles, who has an ownership stake in water-front restaurants that serve clams and other seafood along with the produce he grows at Gamble Creek Farms, and Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays co-chair. “Developers, farmers, ranchers, aquaculturists, business owners and homeowners—we all have a significant role to play if we are to maintain the quality of life we have grown up with. We owe our grandchildren and future generations nothing less.”

A webinar highlighting the Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays initiative and experiences of upstream farmers and downstream aquaculturists will be presented from 9-10:15 a.m. Eastern Aug. 28, 2024. Click to register for the event.

The Healthy Farms – Healthy Bays report is the latest in a series of action plans that self-directed work groups organized and facilitated by SfL have developed. We are very proud of the contributions made by Florida Climate Smart Agriculture Work Group and the HF/HB team, and we look forward to helping them put their action plan to work.