The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board Tuesday approved a project that will help a DeSoto County blueberry farm further reduce groundwater pumping.
Island Grove Agricultural Products has three farms located in the Joshua Creek and Prairie Creek watersheds and are within five miles of each other. The project involves constructing an integrated, automated irrigation system for these three farms.
The irrigation system includes two weather stations, soil moisture sensors, and automated pump controls. Weather stations help farmers irrigate more precisely, based on weather conditions. For example, during frost-freeze events the farmer has exact data for the area and can turn on the pumps at the appropriate time instead of pumping all night. In addition, soil moisture sensors increase irrigation efficiency by only irrigating when water is needed.
This project is part of the District’s Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) program, which is a cost-share reimbursement program that conserves water and protects water quality. The program began by funding projects within the Southern Water Use Caution Area (SWUCA) and has expanded to include projects within the entire District.
All three farms have a combined District-issued water use permit for an average of 254,500 gallons per day (gpd) to irrigate 157 acres of blueberries. The project is expected to further reduce groundwater pumping by 10 percent of the total permit, or 25,000 gpd, in addition to the reductions the farms are already seeing.
This is the fourth FARMS project for Island Grove Agricultural Products. The first three projects involve constructing reservoirs to store rainwater and runoff for irrigation. The first two reservoirs have resulted in a reduction in groundwater pumping greater than the projected savings. The third reservoir is still being built.
Together, all four projects should result in a reduction of as much as 90 percent of the total permit for the three farms.
The FARMS program is jointly funded by state appropriations, the District’s Governing Board and the District’s Alafia River, Hillsborough River, Peace River, Manasota and Withlacoochee River Basin Boards, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The FARMS Program is expected to reduce groundwater pumping by 40 million gallons per day over the next 20 years.
This project is expected to cost $96,000, of which up to $48,000 will be funded by the District’s Peace River Basin Board, the Governing Board and state appropriations.