University of Florida

The Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA) Supports Agricultural Activities That Generate Over $7.5 Billion Annually. Competition Among Water Users, and Strict Environmental Regulations, Threaten Agricultural Water Security. the Goal of This Project Is to Ensure Economic Sustainability of Agriculture and Silviculture in N Florida and S Georgia While Protecting Water Quantity, Quality, and Habitat in the Ufa and the Springs and Rivers It Feeds. to Achieve This Goal We Will: 1) Build a Comprehensive Modeling Platform Within a Participatory Modeling Process to Predict Farm/forest- and Regional-scale Impacts of Alternative Land Use and Production Practices on the Water Quantity, Water Quality, and Economy of N Florida and S Georgia; 2) Integrate STAKEHOLDERS' Experience With Scientific Data and Models to Explore Economic-environmental Tradeoffs Among Alternative Climate, Land Use, Technology, BMP Adoption and Policy Scenarios to Understand Changes Needed to Achieve Agricultural Water Security and Environmental Protection; 3) Develop and Deliver Innovative Extension BMP Demonstrations, Digital Decision Toolkits and Training Programs for Diverse Stakeholders to Bring About Preferred Changes in Production Systems and Incentive Programs. in Addition We Will Train a Transdisciplinary Cohort of 8 Graduate Students and 5 Post-doctoral Researchers to Address Complex Agricultural Water Issues.