Everglades Agricultural Area

The Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes (C&SF Project) of 1948 designed a large area of the northern Everglades, south of Lake Okeechobee, to be managed for agriculture. Only a small portion of land near the Lake had been developed, leaving much room for agricultural expansion in what was a vast, nearly unbroken expanse of sawgrass. Called the Everglades Agricultural Area, it encompassed about 27% of the historic Everglades and was a major factor in the economic justification of the C&SF Project.

The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) is an area of 700,000 acres of farmland, created from the drainage of the northern Everglades. The major crop of the EAA is sugar cane, but winter vegetables are also grown here.

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