Indian River Farming & Agriculture

Indian River Farms Company

"Large scale drainage of swamp land such s that which surrounded Vero was being undertaken in Florida. An example of the way in which investors took advantage of the newly recognized potential of swampy areas may be found in the creation of the Indian River Farms Company. In 1909, Herman T. Zeuch of Davenport, Iowa visited the Vero area. He saw land that could be drained and sold to citrus farmers and cattle raisers. A corporation, the Indian River Farms Company, was chartered in 1912 with stockholders who were chiefly residents of Zeuch's home town. In 1913, the town of Vero was platted at the Company's direction. . . The planned drainage program was completed in 1917. In that year, maintenance and extension of the drainage area was given over to the State of Florida. The name of the community was changed to Vero Beach in 1925, when the town became the seat of the newly created Indian River County. The IRC Farms Company was dissolved in 1936. Vero Beach has remained the center of this productive citrus growing region."

-FL Historical Marker @ Vero Beach Women's Club

Dredging & Draining the Swamp

"Gov. Napoleon Broward provided the impetus to populate marshy Florida and permit agricultural development, inducing the Florida Legislature to create a drainage district board and a method of levying taxes to fund the program in 1905. Broward had dredges built, including the Governor Broward (similar to the one pictured at right), which was built in Chicago and arrived in Florida in 1906, to carry out the reclamation process at Fellsmere Farms."

-IRC Genealogical Society

Citrus & Agriculture

"Citrus was the primary industry for many years and one that brought worldwide recognition to the area for its high quality. In fact, the colorful history of citrus in the area goes back to the 1800s and is just as important to the local economy today as it was then with its thousands if acres of groves, packinghouses, processing plants and even seasonal gift fruit shipper."

-Vero Beach Memories

Food production/consumption will always be a paramount necessity of human life--both sustainably and socially. IRC/Florida is unique in its ability to grow food year round, however, many years of land overuse and harmful fertilizers have depleted its once naturally fertile soils. While IRC/Florida does continue to to successfully produce a lot of food, AME hopes to see its local agriculture industries revitalized and for it to reemerge as a World producer of food.

Crackers, Cattle & Livestock

"Despite losing 200,000 acres (more than 300 square miles) of rural and natural land each year to development, newly a fifth of Florida is still covered by ranch lands. Drive a few miles down the road from Disney World and you'll cross a ranch with more cattle than any other in North America. Continue further south and you'll discover ranches that sustain an endangered population of black bears and other ranches that may prove essential to the survival of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades."

-Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier

"More than seven million acres of land support some 1,750,000 head of cattle in approximately 15,500 operation." --From the foreword by Patrick Smith, author of A Land Remembered

While often used as term to describe a White Southerners, "Cracker" is actually a generations-old term that refers to Florida's original cowboys or "cowhunters," which derives from the "cracking" sound of their buckskin whips, in instrument whose crack could startle and discipline a heard of cattle and he heard from miles. In fact, many parts of IRC are zoned in way that each house is offered an abundance of land around it, encouraging farming; and tax exemptions are issued for ever head of cattle one owns.

Cattle raising remains a bourgeoning business in Florida/IRC and a highpoint of its history, AME hopes to see it continue to do so.

IR Farming & Agriculture Aquasolution

With all due respect and gratitude to the people and companies who continue the traditions of Farming & Agriculture in IRC, it has become apparent that the soil quality in large has dwindled in comparison to what it started as; as will any soil-body that undergoes many years of use. Soil must be amended from the ground up. Harmful fertilizers must be supplanted with more natural alternatives for the the sake of crop quality, longevity of the industry and the Lagoon.

Much of what made the original crop beds so fertile, lush and unique in the early days of IRC is that they were virgin in use from having been newly drained swamp lands—which contained the muck, shells (high calcium content) and organic matter of the Lagoon.

AME proposes reinstituting the same Lagoon matter back into IRC's Agricultural lands, however, this content still contains much of the harmful pollutants affecting Lagoon health, as well as having a high salinity/acid content and would need to be treated prior to application—potentially added to.

Additionally, composting is one of the best methods for amending soil. Composting can be performed in small, single-home scales and industrially. Vero's current main industries being Tourism/Service (Restaurants), there lies potential in large scale composting with the benefit of garbage/waste decrease.

Another soil amender is the age-old method of applying livestock manure(s).