Central Florida governments, Deseret Ranch fight over reservoir's water

Deseret Ranches, one of the nation's biggest producers of beef cattle, is expanding into the farming of potatoes, corn, black beans and cucumbers in a big way.

What makes the new harvests possible are giant, rolling sprinklers that shower a thousand acres of row crops in north Osceola County with some of the most sought-after water in Central Florida.

That water comes from Taylor Creek Reservoir, which is on ranch property but also coveted by the cities of Orlando, Cocoa and Titusville and Orange and Osceola counties for meeting the demands of new development and the thirst of growing populations.

Hidden in rural, east Orange and Osceola counties, the reservoir has become the prize in a rising competition between what people can grow and eat now and where they may want to live in the future--between Deseret spuds sliced into chips at a Frito-Lay Inc. plant in Orlando and suburban homes in Central Florida that may or may not be built anytime soon. ...