State agricultural water office says BMP manuals updated, reports 742 new producers enrolled and seeks $20 million for regional projects

Wes Gregory, director of the Office of Agriculture and Water Policy at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government that his office has modernized best management practice (BMP) manuals, added 742 producers to enrollment programs covering about 677,000 acres and is seeking $20,000,000 for regional water projects.

Gregory said the office’s mission is to implement strategies that protect Florida’s water resources while supporting agricultural sustainability. He told the committee the office completed an extensive update of commodity BMP manuals, worked with field staff and producers to ensure practices are achievable, and retooled enrollment and verification with GIS and a new field application to speed inspections and proof of enrollment.

The updates, Gregory said, included review of 9 commodity manuals and a separate manual for imperiled species; he also said the office is adding a commodity manual for small farms and livestock and expects to finish the current manual updates by the end of the month. "We had to set goals, we needed to collect data, we needed to understand is this really benefiting the environment," Gregory said.

Gregory described targeted outreach that increased enrollment in priority watersheds. He said the office added 402 producers to the Indian River Lagoon program in under six months — growing enrollments from 95 participants — and credited a data-driven approach using tax, land-use and irrigation records to identify and contact likely producers. In the last two years, he said, the office added 742 producers statewide, representing roughly 677,000 acres enrolled in BMPs.

Gregory also described the office’s cost-share tracking and its use to prioritize investments. He cited a statewide example of roughly 704 springs-related BMP cost-share projects and said researchers estimate the one-time investments, if continued by producers, would reduce nitrogen leaching and produce sustained reductions in nutrient loads. (Transcript language on the precise pound-for-pound reduction was inconsistent; Gregory described the estimate as a substantial, multi‑percent reduction.)

On enforcement and verification, Gregory said field staff conduct inspections and give landowners an opportunity to correct deficiencies; if compliance is not achieved they refer cases to the Department of Environmental Protection for enforcement. "We may say ... this isn't being done correctly. And we give them an opportunity to correct that," Gregory said. He added that referrals to DEP are not very frequent because, he said, producers generally want to comply.

Gregory described a new mobile application to speed enrollments and inspections, and proposed shifting some citrus inspection funding to general revenue to cross-train citrus inspectors for enrollment and verification work. He also said the department has increased rural and family lands conservation easements by roughly 130,000 acres and plans to use the field app to coordinate easement inspections with BMP checks.

Committee members asked questions during the presentation. Vice Chair Berman asked about enrollment in the Lake Okeechobee Basin Management Action Plan area; Gregory said, "I believe we are at 93%." Berman also asked about enforcement; Gregory described the inspection, notice and referral process to DEP.

The office’s near-term requests to the committee include $20,000,000 for regional projects that treat water at watershed scale, Gregory said, and continued investment in cost-share and data tools to target future work. He closed by asking for the committee’s continued support and said staff stand ready to answer follow-up questions.

Looking ahead, Gregory said the office will finish the manual updates and continue the enrollment push, and that committee investment decisions would determine how quickly the office can scale regional projects and other efforts.