Tifton, GA |

Despite the countless hours that go into preparing the land, choosing the right variety and protecting against pests and diseases, no crop can be successful without the proper amount of water. And for more than a decade the largest underground source in the region has been unavailable to farmers here in Georgia. However, thanks to a new ruling from the EPD, those restrictions have been lifted.

“EPD will begin accepting applications for new withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer in southwest Georgia beginning in April of 2025. That’s certainly welcomed news as that area’s been under a moratorium now for, thirteen years. The news is, as I say, certainly welcomed for growers in that area. The Floridan aquifer is a fantastic resource for farmers in that area. It supports hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigation,” says Mark Masters, Director for the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center.

With a number of counties in that part of the state experiencing abnormally dry conditions in 2024, having the aquifer as a possible option for irrigation is exciting news.

“The Floridan is a resource in terms of groundwater that is more readily accessible for most of the growers in Southwest Georgia in terms of the cost of tapping that resource unlike some of the deeper aquifers. And so, for farmers that may be looking to expand their irrigated acreage in some way, this is an important development,” says Masters.

Despite the ruling that allows for these new drilling permits, there will still be some restrictions on water usage in order to maintain the ecosystem.

“This is not opening up to just unlimited acreage forever. These new permits will have some drought restrictions on them because as we now know, there is that tight connection and we want to make sure that we are maintaining adequate stream flows in some of those critical areas. And so, these new permits will have some drought restrictions in place, but again, in most years, this is going to be a really good resource for our farmers,” says Masters.

Being good stewards of the land, which includes maximizing water efficiency, is a cornerstone within the farming community and one of the major factors that went into this new ruling.

“One of the main reasons we’re able to make this announcement and that we got this good news from the governor’s office is that over this same period of time, we’ve been able to demonstrate that our farmers are really good stewards of the resource. And so, we understand that their use is highly efficient and that they’re taking care of our shared water resources. That’s gone a long way to helping us get to this place where we’re now able to begin expanding some of that use,” says Masters.

This is also a culmination of plenty of hard work behind the scenes, where researchers, administrators, and most importantly, farmers worked together in order to come up with a resolution.

“As much as Farm Bureau has been involved with getting that moratorium looked at and lifted for everything from frost protection to irrigation wells, it probably wouldn’t have moved as fast if it hadn’t had been for Farm Bureau. So, to all of the people down in that part of the state that are Farm Bureau members, thank you for helping us get the ball rolling,” says Tom McCall, Georgia Farm Bureau President.

By: Damon Jones