As a Glades family sugarcane farmer and county commissioner, I was angry and disappointed about the Sept. 6 OrlandoSentinel.com guest column “Dead fish on Florida shores: Turn outrage into action” by Bullsugar.org representative Chris Maroney. He falsely accuses sugarcane farmers of causing the water mess playing out on the east and west coasts of Florida.
This is not a crisis caused by farmers south of Lake Okeechobee. This is because millions of people have moved into a system designed more than 70 years ago for a fraction of that population. As to algae issues and Lake Okeechobee discharges, it is true that the water and nutrients flowing into Lake Okeechobee are not being properly managed. What Bullsugar neglected to reveal was that nearly 95 percent of this water and nutrients runs off communities from Orlando south into Lake Okeechobee. When Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades are full, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — not sugarcane farmers — discharges that water east and west to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries because of dike safety concerns during hurricane season.
Maroney is doing a disservice to the people of Central Florida by attempting to find another scapegoat to a problem that is better addressed at its source. Outside of activist groups like Bullsugar, most scientists and water-quality experts agree that the problem lies north of Lake Okeechobee, not to the south, where successful restoration projects have already been built and are delivering clean water to the Everglades.
Bullsugar seems to attack farmers at every opportunity. For example, it has lobbied legislators in Tallahassee to take more job-sustaining farmland out of production when it wasn’t needed. Language used against our farming communities even caused Republican nominee for agricultural commissioner Matt Caldwell to refer to it as a “hate group.”
Farmers want this problem solved more than anyone else. We are working every day to address water quality where we can. We have used best-management practices to reduce the amount of phosphorus flowing off our farms by a significant amount. In Everglades Agricultural Area, which is south of Lake Okeechobee, farmers have achieved a 57 percent annual reduction in phosphorus and, as a result of our partnership in restoration efforts, 100 percent of Everglades National Park is meeting strict federal clean water standards.
It’s a shame that Bullsugar seems to exist only to attack local farmers, who grow not only sugarcane but also citrus, sweet corn, green beans, broccoli and other vegetables for Florida families and families across our great country. If groups like Bullsugar were to be successful, American families would increasingly have to rely on a foreign food supply.
Down in the Glades communities, we want to see this problem solved. That means sticking to the facts of what is causing these serious water issues so we can design a real solution. We are willing to help find solutions to stopping the coastal discharges just as we have been part of the solution to helping restore the Everglades. To do that, everyone must come to the table and work together — and agree to work with factual information and science — not misinformation and hate.
Farmers are stepping up, and we challenge Bullsugar to step up and do the same. The organization might start by changing its name.
Weston Pryor of Moore Haven is a farmer and a Glades County commissioner.