Best Management Practices (BMPs)

U.S. Sugar has pioneered the implementation of special land and water management systems called Best Management Practices (BMPs) developed in partnership with University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences to minimize phosphorus runoff.

Irrigation for sugar cane is achieved by controlling the level of the water table under the soil. In the rainy season, the fields receive about 55 inches of rainfall. In the dry season, conveyance canals and nearby Lake Okeechobee supllement rainfall as the irrigation sources. The Company built and maintains a system of canals that brings water to the fields in the dry season and carries off excess water.

The soil in the farming area is naturally very high in phosphorus, as a result of sediment built up by Lake Okeechobee spilling over its banks which can run off into ground water. Soil sediments -- not fertilizer -- carried in farm runoff are a potential source of phosphorus in the water. To reduce potential for phosphorous runoff, BMPs include removing phosphorus-containing sediment from canals and ditches before the water leaves Company property.

The Company has adjusted the timing and frequency of pumping to reduce the movement of sediments. Steps such as laser leveling fields have been taken to reduce or stop wind erosion.

For the past several years, sugar farmers have averaged a 50 percent reduction in nutrients leaving the farm. Thanks to the Company's careful water management, U.S. Sugar farming operations contribute four gallons of water to South Florida's water supply for each gallon they use.