In late August, FFVA hosted a group of regulators from the EPA to provide them with an overview of Florida’s Best Management Practices (BMP) program. The group — which included Larry Elworth, agricultural advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson — also got a more detailed look at BMPs in action at several ag operations. They heard from representatives from state agencies as well as growers on the history, development, implementation, and impact of the state BMP program.
More than a year ago, EPA settled a lawsuit brought by activist groups over water quality by agreeing to impose new quality standards on Florida waters. EPA plans to replace the state’s existing site-specific standards with numeric limits that would apply to different categories of water bodies. The proposed rule comes despite the fact that Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection has been working for more than a decade toward the same goal through painstaking, scientific steps. The EPA is set to issue its proposed rule this month.
Rich Budell, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services’ Office of Agricultural Water Policy, and Drew Bartlett, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, gave an overview of BMPs and the participation of the ag community in developing compliance manuals for various sectors of agriculture. Though not all growers participate in the program, those who do have the advantage of presumed compliance with water quality standards. They also become eligible for cost-sharing for infrastructure projects and improvements. The state estimates that three-fourths of statewide irrigated agricultural acreage is enrolled in BMP implementation. Interestingly, many growers who aren’t enrolled in the program still meet the standards and practices set out in the BMPs.
Big Questions Remain
What’s unknown at this point is how EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria will be implemented. The state has said the criteria are so stringent there is no technology sufficient to make compliance possible. The concern is EPA will expect a nutrient load reduction beyond what BMPs can accomplish. “We don’t think we can get there with BMPs alone. But if the science, which is the best we can bring to bear, can’t get us there, what will?” Budell asked. “Achieving water quality is desirable. But is it NNC (numeric nutrient criteria) at all costs or any cost? Is no cost too great to achieve this number?”
Numerous growers and ranchers had a chance to tell the EPA staffers about their role in development of BMPs and why they are implementing them — or not. Their presentations were thorough, enlightening, and heartfelt. And they didn’t hold back in expressing concern for what EPA is about to do. “Our fear is that very good water gets sacrificed because it’s not perfect,” one participant said.
Seeing Is Believing
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The regulators also had a chance to see firsthand the extensive measures being taken to comply with BMPs. Their tour included stops at Rafter T Ranch in Sebring, Lykes Brothers Inc. in Lake Placid, and A. Duda and Sons in Belle Glade. And there was wide-ranging discussion with specialty crop producers in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) on the efforts of the EAA’s Environmental District, which has invested $50 million since 1989 in BMP research. Of the 2.3 million acres enrolled statewide in the BMP program, 1.2 million acres are in the northern Everglades.
Ed Hamilton of A. Duda and Sons emphasized the consequences of the EPA implementing arbitrary standards for Florida’s unique, variable water systems. “You can’t put standards in place and [expect] these businesses to operate,” he said. “[The process] has to be collaborative.”
In many cases, seeing is believing. In this instance it’s fair to say that Elworth and the rest of the EPA team left enlightened on — and perhaps even impressed by — Florida’s extensive long-term efforts to manage nutrients. The agriculture community can only hope that their fact-finding visit influences the actions that the agency takes.
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Opinion: Wrangling With Regulation
Lisa Lochridge is the former director of public affairs for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association and president of the Agriculture Institute of Florida. See all author stories here.
September 28, 2010 
