By Timothy Solano
I am a 14th generation Floridian and a second-generation clam farmer. My family has seen the best and worst of times here. We’ve watched pods of dolphins swim with their babies in the same waters we enjoy. We’ve pulled debris out of those waters, storm after storm. We’ve ridden through economic downturns, always adjusting to Mother Nature’s demands.
Farmers, on the land and in the sea, have been quietly protecting Florida in ways most people never see. As Florida’s coastal waters warm, though, it’s time farmers are seen for more than just the food they produce. We need to be valued for the ecosystem services we provide.
My family grows clams in Cedar Key. Clam farming is a young industry, only about 30 years old, but we have great potential in helping Florida address water quality issues.
When I plant a clam seed off the coast, I am not just growing protein. I am installing one of nature’s water filtration systems. Bivalves – including clams, oysters, mussels and scallops – are filter feeders. They take in up to 20 gallons of water per day and consume the nutrients in that water – things like nitrogen, carbon and other nutrients that, when left unchecked, create a toxic environment, including red tide events.
Our farm seeds roughly 35 million clams every year. If we look at 30 million of those, based on work we’ve done with scientific partners, those clams:
- Remove about 1,000 pounds of nitrogen from the water per year.
- Lock up about 182,000 pounds of carbon per year by turning it into the calcium carbonate in their shells.
- Produce about $22,000 a year in water-quality and carbon benefits to Florida, not including the value of cleaner water to tourism and property values or the avoided costs of fixing degraded estuaries later.
Right now, those services go unpaid. They show up in the public good, but not our balance sheet. This is a problem because it’s tough for clam farmers to stay in business. We are susceptible to the same issues – like losses during hurricanes and red tide seasons – that our clams, if there were more of us and them, could help mitigate.
Take red tide, for example. Understandably, we cannot harvest clams when water pollution levels are high. However, red tide is not a concern for the clams themselves. The clams actually eat red tide. Slowly but surely, they help clean up the nitrogen in the water.
But by the time the water is clean again, the clams are too big to sell. The farmer doesn’t get paid and, in many cases, goes out of business. That’s a shame because, when clam farmers go out of business, Florida loses a valuable tool.
I envision a future in which farmers are valued not just for the physical products they produce but the co-products and ecosystem services they deliver along the way. This may come by way of actual payments for ecosystem services, like water filtration, or in new products made from the “wastes” of our mainstream products.
For example, leftover shells can be used to repair roads and parking lots, as mulch in landscaping and gardens, and in shoreline and oyster bar restoration projects. We believe it makes sense to use and reuse natural materials that come from our own operation and/or that would otherwise go to waste in our community, as much as possible. This is called a “circular bioeconomy.”
I recently leant my voice to a publication produced by the Florida Smart Agriculture work group and Solutions from the Land entitled, “Voices of Florida Farmers: Building a Circular Bioeconomy.” The publication outlines what circularity looks like now and could look like in the future for Florida, built by the people who live and work on the land and in the sea.
To continue supporting clam farmers in their quest to do good in the water and on land today and in the future, we need research and extension programs fully funded. We need policy that integrates shellfish aquaculture into climate and coastal resilience planning from the start.
Mother Nature has always been our business partner, and we will keep working with her every day. With the right policies, Florida can work with us, too, and keep our coasts thriving for generations to come.
Tim Solano is a clam farmer from Cedar Key and a leader of Florida Smart Agriculture. Banner photo: Littleneck clams (Ken Hammond, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
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