Alachua Conservation Trust adds Gilchrist County farm to protected list

Irrigated row crops at the Watson farm will be transitioned to non-irrigated pasture over the next 10 years.
Irrigated row crops at the Watson farm will be transitioned to non-irrigated pasture over the next 10 years.
Courtesy of ACT

A former dairy farm in Gilchrist County near Devil’s Ear Springshed will transition 561 acres into lower-impact farming over the next 10 years through a conservation easement.

According to an Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) release, the Watson Farm is being permanently protected through a conservation easement that will undergo a transition to lower-impact farming over the next decade.

The ACT is in partnership with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS), Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), and Stetson’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience (IWER) and worked closely with the owners of Watson Farm to put their multi-generational family land into conservation. The deal will reduce the land use impacts and is one of the first agreements of its kind in Florida.

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The farm was operated as a phosphate mine during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and large quarry pits and remnants of an old railroad bed still exist. Steam shovels were once used to extract minerals from the land and transport them offsite. The land around the quarry pits was transitioned into diverse crops for much of the 20th century, but as agricultural operations in the area started to industrialize, the land use intensified to include center pivot irrigation and a dairy operation.

The farm’s owners took on significant debt to keep up with changing agriculture practices and the natural environment. The farm, located along the northern portion of the Brooksville Ridge, was vulnerable to nitrate leaching due to sandy soil and the heavy rains that occur during crop season. The ridge area recharges to the Upper Floridian Aquifer, which discharges freshwater to 36 springs around the Santa Fe River.

According to the press release, “When the Watson Family approached ACT about protecting the land while also being able to pay off farming debt on the property, the accredited land trust looked to its partners for a solution that would also ensure that the land remain undeveloped and environmental impacts reduced.”

The land will now be protected through an agricultural conservation easement held by FDACS through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLLP).

“We are grateful to the Watson Family and our partners at FDACS, the Suwannee River Water Management District, and Stetson IWER for working with ACT to conserve this land,” said ACT executive director Tom Kay in the press release. “Watson Farm is forever protected with a conservation easement that minimizes future development and reduces water-intensive farming practices on the land. We are optimistic that this will be the first of many farmers in the area interested in working with ACT to conserve their farms and in the process benefit our local springs and aquifer.”

The agricultural conservation easements help landowners to protect and maintain their land, especially in this area of North Central Florida where development pressure has increased significantly, according to the release.

“I have seen several family farms lost to subdivision,” said landowner Craig Watson in the press release. “The conservation easement allows the acreage to continue as an income producer for future generations while allowing the family to continue residing on the property. It also helps to provide a route for inheritance, while retaining the agricultural nature of the farm.”

Along with placing a conservation easement on the property, the Watson family has also agreed to reduce their impacts on the land by converting existing irrigated row crops to non-irrigated pastures. Funds will be provided by the Accelerating Suwannee Program and the Sustainable Farming Fund to assist with the cost of implementing land use conversions over the next 10 years.

“Our freshwater springs are one of the most important economic and recreational drivers in our region,” said SRWMD executive director Hugh Thomas in the press release. “Funding projects like Watson Farm through the Accelerating Suwannee River Restoration Grant is one way that the District is able to partner with landowners and local organizations to improve water quality and quantity for these precious natural resources.”

Agricultural producers and rural landowners interested in learning more about how they can protect their land through conservation and reduce their land use impacts can contact ACT at info@AlachuaConservationTrust.org or (352) 373-1078 for additional information.

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