Transforming Agricultural Systems on Public Lands in the EAA to Support Everglades Restoration
The success of Everglades restoration is threatened by both regional and global scale pressures. The overarching global threat to the Everglades is long-term sea level rise due to climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions. The State of Florida is purchasing EAA lands with the plan of replacing them with water storage and treatment areas. But displaced farms simply reappear elsewhere in the world, given that removing farms does not reduce the demand for food products. Substitute farms typically reappear in developing nations on lands cleared from native habitat. And since land clearing for agriculture and other development is a major source of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, it can be argued that agriculture displaced from Florida contributes to greater greenhouse gas emissions and thus simply fuels global-scale threats to the Everglades. To achieve meaningful and lasting benefits, Everglades restoration programs must address the global need to produce food in a manner compatible with ecosystem protection. EAA farms on public lands can be redesigned to balance food production with environmental needs such as water storage, nutrient management, soil subsidence reduction, energy efficiency, and habitat protection in ways that are potentially more profitable to farmers and less costly to tax payers.
- Research Organization:
- Hendry County, Florida
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
- Contributing Organization:
- Hendry County, Florida
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0000303
- OSTI ID:
- 1337877
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-HENDRYFLA-00303-303
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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