Florida Phosphate Industry Facts Did you know that – Florida’s phosphate industry supplies 75 percent of America’s phosphate fertilizer – essential to high-yield U.S. harvests of wheat, corn and soybeans. Phosphate mining and production are strictly regulated by local, state and national law. The phosphate industry accounted for 40%, or $2.5 billion, of the direct economic impact of the Port of Tampa in 2001. In 2001 phosphate and related chemical industries accounted for 41,000 jobs with wages of $1.4 billion and an overall $5.9 billion impact throughout the Tampa Bay region.  The industry has paid almost $1.6 billion in Florida severance tax since 1971. The industry bought almost $1.7 billion of supplies and services in Florida in 2003.  The industry spent over $214 million on plant and equipment in 2003. Almost 6,200 people worked directly for the industry in 2003 with payroll of $446 million.  During 2003, the average total compensation for a phosphate industry employee was $72,000. The industry mines less than 5,000 acres of land a year.  New permits now proposed are for replacement mines.  The total annual mined acreage will not increase.  Acreage reclaimed annually is about the same as acreage mined annually. All lands mined since 1975 must be reclaimed under Florida law.  The industry has funded and undertaken massive land reclamation, and continues to do so. Concerns about water availability in the central Florida region are being successfully addressed with the help of the Florida phosphate industry. The industry has cut its groundwater usage per ton of rock mined by 50 percent since 1991, and recycles over 90 percent of its water. A severe drought in the year 2000 reduced the amount of water available in central Florida, and this anomaly is being used by industry opponents to charge that the phosphate industry cannot be sustained.  This is a severe distortion.  Rainfall levels have returned to normal in the years since. The industry trains its employees and contractors in security and safety.
P.O. Box 6116  |  Lakeland, Florida 33807-6116