Focus : FAWN Sponsors
FAWN is a project operated by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Part of the operating expenses is funded from the UF/IFAS budget, however, this funding does not provide enough dollars to develop management tools and support research work. Grants and the sponsor program are the source of vital "outside" dollars that allow FAWN to proceed beyond the collection and dissemination of weather information.
The key providers of outside funding are the Southwest Florida, South Florida, and St. Johns River Water Management Districts. Without their support FAWN would only collect weather data and make it available for a fee.
Currently FAWN is developing an irrigation scheduling program based on calculated ET (evapotranspiration), soil water holding capacity, rainfall and system specifications (trees/acre and micro sprinkler output). FAWN has on line the Wet Bulb Irrigation Cutoff tool that allows those using water for cold protection to determine a safe temperature to shut down systems. This tool alone has "saved" over 30 billion gallons of water the last three years! A cold protection management tool is under development as well. The development of all of these management tools is due to the funding from the Water Management Districts.
FAWN is especially grateful to the Governing Board and each Basin Board for their financial support. They have been the difference between a minimum system and a dynamic one providing timely weather and climate information to help decision makers. We wish to publicly thank.
Governing Board members have recognized the value of FAWN and approved budgets with funding for FAWN. Staff has been extremely supportative and helped navigate the arduous journey through the sea of paperwork. This is an excellent example of governmental agencies working together to maximize the productivity of tax dollars.
FAWN looks forward to a long term relationship with the Water Management Districts and knows the dollars invested will pay big dividends!