The state of Florida has announced it will buy the U.S. Sugar Corporation for $1.75 billion so as to convert farmland to reservoirs. U.S. Sugar owns some 187,000 acres of land around Lake Okeechobee. The plan, which is part of the state's Everglades restoration effort, is to convert much of this land from sugar production to conservation purposes. The remarkable plan, which was hatched in secret, is drawing praise from conservationists, who note that thousands of acres of reservoirs and marshland will do more to help the Everglades than the high-tech re-engineering efforts that had dominated the multi-billion restoration project.