A Southwest Florida Water Management District project will help a Manatee County tomato and potato farm reduce groundwater pumping by at least 50 percent.
The project is at 4 Star Tomato, Inc.’s Long Creek Farm and 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.
Long Creek Farm is a 1,240-acre farm located in eastern Manatee County adjacent to Long Creek, which drains into the Myakka River. In addition to reducing groundwater, the project will prevent water seepage into the Upper Myakka watershed, which will improve natural system functions in Flatford Swamp.
This project involves constructing culverts with risers to retain storm water and tailwater in six retention areas. Tailwater is the water that doesn’t soak in during irrigation. The project will also include more than a mile of drainage pipe, and the construction of an automatically operated pump station with 5,500 feet of piping to a retention pond. The water collected in the retention area will be reused for irrigation.
According to the farm’s District-issued water use permit, the tomato and potato farm is permitted to use an average of 920,800 gallons of water per day (gpd) for irrigation.
“This is one of those projects that really is a win-win situation – it helps the grower sustain production while helping to improve the condition of the water resource,” said Bill Orendorff, the District’s FARMS program manager.
Because this project is expected to reduce withdrawals from the Upper Floridan aquifer and improve natural system functions in the Upper Myakka River watershed, it qualifies for a 75 percent cost-share reimbursement under the FARMS Program.
The project is expected to cost $250,000, of which up to $187,500 will be funded by the District. The remaining cost will be paid by the farm. The District’s funding will be shared by the Governing Board, $32,139; the Manasota Basin Board, $32,140; and state appropriations, $132,221.
The FARMS program is jointly funded by state appropriations, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the District’s Governing Board and Basin Boards. This program is expected to reduce groundwater pumping by 40 million gallons per day by 2025.