Brendon Leslie: ‘Captains for Clean Water is a political shill group’

TAMPA, Fla. – Florida’s Voice CEO Brendon Leslie Tuesday blasted environmental advocacy organization Captains for Clean Water as a “political shill group” on the Drew Steele radio show.

“They’re not an environmental group, they’re a political shill group looking to demonize our farmers,” Leslie said. “They always say big sugar, big sugar, big sugar south of the lake. A majority of the vegetables, probably three fourths of the vegetables and produce during the winter months for the Eastern seaboard comes from those farms down there.”

According to the Florida Farm Bureau, the Everglades Agricultural Area supplies food for millions of Americans during the winter months. Lettuce production provides 1 billion salads each year while cabbage harvesting contributes 250 million servings of coleslaw.

The organization Captains for Clean Water has accused local farmers in social media posts for flooding the Everglades basin. Its mission statement includes restoring and protecting “aquatic ecosystems for the use of all.”

“The water management practices in the EAA are causing tremendous imbalance because the sugar industry is simply allowed to dump their excess water to maintain perfect growing conditions, even if that means causing harm to other parts of the system, and in this case, a flood scenario in the water conservation areas,” a spokesperson for Captains for Clean Water Co-founder Chris Wittman said.

Leslie maintained that the organization was being disingenuous by targeting farmers. In particular, rainfall and flooding has hampered a ranchers’ ability to plain and harvest their crops.

Leslie’s comments were backed up in a statement by Jim Spratt of The Florida Agricultural Coalition.

“The same rains that flooded the Everglades delayed planting and harvesting of winter vegetables in South Florida, and growers are working overtime to prepare the fresh sweet corn, green beans and other fresh vegetables Americans need to serve on their dinner tables this Thanksgiving,” Spratt said.

According to South Florida Water Management District data, 71% of water in the Everglades has come from rainfall. The data also indicates only 14% of water from the Everglades Agricultural Area is flowing into water conservation areas, which are the state-owned Everglades.

Leslie attacked environmental groups, like Captains, for singling out farmers to push their agenda.

“The environmental groups are out to get our farmers and nothing else. That’s the truth,” Leslie said. “When you buy one of their fancy little hats, their trucker hats, all you’re doing is funding the demise of farming. It needs to stop. It’s ridiculous.”

Leslie further lamented the organization for not talking about “real water issues,” including ignoring pollution in the Caloosahatchee River. The waterway flows west of Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s west coast.

He maintained his number one priority was to give “a voice to the farmers.” He also declared farmers as the “number one national security factor.”

“Listen, to all my farmer friends, we all hear you. We hear you and we’re listening,” Leslie said.