Environment   Click on your Choice: download this chapter in a PDF file view web pages Guiding Principle - Point to Keep in Mind - Challenge Current Condition Priority Actions   Other Actions Benefits Key to Acronyms

Enhancing Environmental Compatibility

Current Condition:

Here are the major obstacles that stand in the way of ensuring better compatibility between agriculture and the environment: 

To make progress in improving the way in which environmental regulations work, environmental interests must be willing to listen to criticisms from the people who are regulated, to look at problems that have been identified and to consider alternatives that can improve compliance. This section strives to facilitate that process. 

Findings from an extensive study on the impact of regulations on agricultural operations in Hillsborough County, Florida,  are listed below.  These findings also are summarized in Excerpt 7 - "The Problems with Regulations," and is available for download at http://privatelands.org/farm/Pages/downloads.html. Suggestions on how to overcome each of the problems identified are included in the Priority Actions below.  The findings indicated that:

Strict, across-the-board, one-size-fits-all regulations often do not allow adequate flexibility for solutions to be developed that fit site-specific situations.

Environmental groups have too often seen agriculture — and characterized it — as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. This mindset (which, itself, has been one-sided) has been translated into legislation and been picked up by the media, which in turn has colored the perceptions of policy makers, regulators and much of the public.

There is a complex array of conservation programs for agriculture, yet there is a lack of consistency between programs. It often is difficult to "dovetail" several programs together. There also is no central source of information on what conservation programs are available, from whom, and how to apply.

Many conservation programs for ag were created for Midwest situations and cannot be applied to Florida without major changes.

One of the most serious environmental challenges facing Florida is the spread of exotics. The costs of controlling exotics can add greatly to the operating costs of an ag operation. (Note: this obstacle is addressed under Priority Action 3 in Section 1.)

Habitats can be destabilized when exotics are removed. Public land managers currently do not prepare for native succession. As a result, exotics just grow back. (Also addressed under Priority Action 3 in Section 1.)

The market currently pays Florida farmers to produce vegetables, citrus, timber and homesites. But it does not pay for the other "products" of their land for which they are the custodians -- open space, wildlife habitat, water resources, wetlands and more. And therein lies the dilemma: As much as agricultural landowners may want to protect environmental values on their lands, they have a powerful inducement not to do so. The market economy offers landowners a strong incentive to manage their holdings for the highest and best economic return. And that can translate into intensive development that may be at odds with environmental protection. Of course, landowners are not forced to seek the highest profit obtainable. That is their choice. But if one can profit by converting land from native habitat to agriculture and from agriculture to condominiums, chances are land will be converted.

Richard Neill says: "There seems to be some real confusion on the part of many members of the public as to the ownership of trees, wetlands, and other assets located on farm land. As you point out, the farmers are expected to maintain these assets for the benefit of society as a whole at their own expense.

"[A] case that I am deeply involved in at the present time involves a 4,700 acre ranch located within the municipal limits of the City of Palm Beach Gardens. The City has taken the position that the owner of the ranch (for 25 years) cannot cut a tree, plow a field, dig a ditch, or really do anything else without first preparing a site plan, applying for a permit, and entering into an agreement to mitigate the damage he is presumed to be doing to the property.

"In fact, this property was overgrown with exotics when purchased by our client 25 years ago. The farming and ranching operations conducted on the property since then have greatly improved the looks, productivity, and habitat. The regulators don't seem to appreciate that."

Stephen W. Forsythe, State Supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the USFWS representative to the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Working Group, says: "The issue of economic return from the land for development versus environmental protection is an important concept to discuss. Clearly development can be at odds with environmental protection, as can some practices usually considered normal agriculture, such as land clearing, wetland drainage, or timber harvest. The challenge before all of us, then, is to find that balanced approach."

Forsythe goes on to say: "We have to focus on incentives to protect habitat that are compatible with ongoing or planned agricultural operations."