CARES Program receives Sustainable
Best Practices Award
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) - The Council for Sustainable
Florida has awarded the County Alliance for Responsible Environmental
Stewardship Program (CARES) its 2004 Sustainable Florida Best
Practices Award in the business partnership category. The Florida
Farm Bureau, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and
the Suwannee River Water Management District developed the voluntary
partnership initiative known as CARES. The program was recognized
in a ceremony at the Capitol on Monday.
CARES is an incentive-based program dedicated to protecting
Florida’s water quality by promoting environmentally sound
and economically viable farming. It is backed by 31 agricultural
associations, government agencies and corporations working together
in partnership with farmers to reduce nitrate levels in the
river and groundwater through voluntary management programs.
“The regulations require only the largest operations to
follow BMPs; this voluntary program reaches out to all operations,”
said Carl Loop Jr., president of Florida Farm Bureau Federation.
“Farmers in this state have stepped forward and made this
program a tremendous success. Good stewardship of the land and
water is imperative in order to continue to farm that land for
generations. The recognition for this award goes to our farmers.”
Farms that adopt and implement Best Management Practices through
a seven-step program are eligible for recognition as CARES participants.
The program places a sign at their farm gate proclaiming, “This
Farm CARES.” To date 115 farms have been recognized. Originally,
the Partnership concentrated on promoting adoption of Best Management
Practices in the middle Suwannee basin. It is now expanding
its efforts to other areas of the state.
"Enhancing command and control regulations with voluntary
best farming practices is doing more to protect our waters than
rules alone could achieve," saidi Secretary Colleen Castille
of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "Hundreds
of farms not currently regulated under state or federal law
are voluntarily reducing nutrients to improve water quality."
The Council for Sustainable Florida is a statewide,
nonprofit organization created as a dynamic forum on innovative
policies and practices that link economic development, environmental
stewardship and healthy livable communities.
The Florida Farm Bureau Federation is the state's largest general-interest
agricultural association with more than 150,000 member-families
statewide. There are Farm Bureaus in 62 counties in Florida,
where agriculture comprises a stable, vital leg of Florida's
economy, rivaling the tourism industry in economic importance.
Headquartered in Gainesville, the Federation is an independent,
non-profit agricultural organization and is not associated with
any arm of the government. More information is available on
the organization’s website, http://FloridaFarmBureau.org.
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Florida
Farm Bureau Federation