Video Script
Title: 2004 Ag-Environmental: Stan Carter
Type: Agricultural-Environmental Leadership Award
Length: 6:29
Year: 2004
Stan Carter, Manager, Citrus Division, McArthur Farms, Inc.: I was born and raised right here and I’ve enjoyed the Indian River Lagoon and I’ve done a lot of recreation and boating and fishing along the Indian River Lagoon and fished the St. Lucie River Estuary. And my son has followed me, he enjoys it, and I want my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren to be able to enjoy it.
Stan Carter, manager for the Citrus Division of McArthur Farms, Inc., enjoys life along the Indian River. Stretching 155 miles from Ponce de Leon inlet south to Jupiter inlet, the Indian River Lagoon is Florida’s most visited playground for boaters and anglers. The lagoon’s sea grass is the ideal habitat for fish like snapper and grouper, whose juvenile life is spent in these waters. The St. Lucie River Estuary is also home to a number of manatees, bottle-nose dolphins, and sea turtles. In fact, it is home to more species of plants and animals than any other estuary in North America.
Yet, despite its idyllic appearance, the Indian River Lagoon is stressed. Problems have shown up in the fish, shellfish, and aquatic life. The apparent cause is the quality and quantity of water draining into the watershed.
Carter, like many water enthusiasts, is well aware of these problems. He is also aware of the public’s misconception that agriculture is the major cause.
In 1998, the Indian River Citrus League’s Production Committee, chaired by Carter, took it upon itself to address the water quality issue. The committee, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the South Florida Water Management District, and University of Florida, took the initiative to develop Best Management Practices, or BMPs, for the area’s citrus growers.
Over 16 regulatory agencies, environmental associations and growers groups and more than 200 people, each with a unique perspective, were involved in the difficult task of crafting the universal set of practices.
Stan Carter: The amazing thing was the first meeting when we all came together, we sat around a big square table; we had the regulatory people over here, the environmental people there, and the growers on one side. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.
The committee’s purpose was to minimize agriculture’s impact on the environment. To reach their goal, they identified five objectives: reduce fresh water runoff; minimize sediment transport; minimize aquatic weed transport; reduce nutrient discharge; and properly control pesticide use.
Brian Boman, Associate Professor, Agricultural Engineering, University of Florida: There were a lot of sides to each issue, and a lot of different view points on everything that happened there. Stan was able to guide that effort to one cohesive document in the end.
Finally, after four years, hundreds of subcommittees meetings, and hundreds of additional man-hours, a manual was produced that would address and satisfy the concerns of the entire group.
Under Carter’s leadership, the committee negotiated Best Management Practices that would enable the growers to improve water quality and reduce the runoff into the St. Lucie Estuary and the Indian River Lagoon.
To control fresh water runoff, ditches and canals are deepened to hold substantially more rainwater on the property. Risers at the end of culverts reduce the amount of runoff and also retain aquatic weeds and silt, minimizing the amount leaving the property. Containment areas for mixing pesticides reduce the chance of spills leaching into the canal system. Fertigation -- applying fertilizer through the irrigation system -- uses smaller amounts of chemicals, thus reducing the amount of nutrient discharge and saving money.
Many of the BMPs are already being used in the groves; 6,000 participants trained in English and Spanish utilize them on a daily basis. To assist with the more expensive upgrades, federal and state agencies offer cost-sharing incentives. Ninety-eight percent of the area’s growers overseeing 185,000 acres of Indian River citrus have signed on to this voluntary program. The practices are so effective that they are being used as blueprints for the Peace River Citrus Growing Region and the Gulf Growing Region. In addition, other agricultural groups are in the process of developing BMPs for their particular commodities.
The BMP manual is a living document; it will continue to grow as new findings are shown to improve water quality.
Caring for the land has always been a priority for Florida’s growers. The Best Management Practices for the Indian River Area Citrus Groves have demonstrated that citrus operations can be economically viable while practicing sound environmental stewardship.
Stan Carter: Stewardship is something that is really important to me. I feel like God created a beautiful thing here in Florida. I mean just look outside; it’s just amazing what we have here. Taking care of what He’s given us is so important. If we all pull together, and we all get on the same page, we can do a great deal in preserving what we have.
