ATLANTA – Georgia farmers now wait to find out if they will face water restrictions that could dramatically alter the state’s top industry.

A court-ordered cap is a possible outcome of a three-year, interstate legal dispute over water, the trial for which wrapped up this week in Maine. A special master is overseeing the case, which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A cap is at least part of the relief sought by the state of Florida, which claims its neighbor to the north isn’t allowing enough water to flow down from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and eventually into the Apalachicola River.

The Sunshine State has accused metro Atlanta and Georgia farmers of excessively using water and the state of unfairly storing it. Florida argues that the dwindling water supply has harmed its ecosystem and effectively decimated the state’s oyster industry.

But Georgia’s agriculture community has pushed back against claims that its use of the Flint River in southwest Georgia has gone unchecked.

“All the farmers I know, we don’t want to waste water. We recognize that it’s perhaps more precious than oil,” said Donald Chase, a peanut and corn grower in rural Macon County. “I think all farmers recognize that.”

Most farmers do not pay for the water drawn from the Flint River, but there are other expenses that help deter overuse.

Costly wells and irrigation equipment are needed, and the pumps used to withdraw the water run on electricity or diesel fuel.

“Farmers are not going to turn on those pivots and increase their expenses when they don’t need it,” said Jeffrey Harvey, legislative director for the Georgia Farm Bureau. “So we’re not going to abuse the resource.”

The agricultural group filed a brief in the case. It argued that forcing changes to how farmers currently water crops would hamper yields and hurt towns that heavily rely on agriculture.

Harvey said the ongoing drought, which is one of the worst in the region’s history, has highlighted the industry’s dependence on irrigation.

“Without access to irrigation water, we wouldn’t have produced anything,” he said.

The heart of the state’s valuable peanut industry depends on the Flint River Basin. Much of the state’s fruit and vegetables are also grown there.

“Not hundreds but thousands of jobs are at stake, and the ripple effect of caps on irrigation would be felt throughout the region, from Bainbridge to Leesburg, Putney to Iron City,” the state associations representing growers of peanuts, fruits and vegetables argued in a brief filed in the case.

Gov. Nathan Deal also told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week that a court-ordered water reduction would be a “disaster for agriculture.”

Adequate water isn’t just needed to produce sufficient yields. Irrigation can also, for example, help protect peanuts from the dangerous alfatoxin, which is caused by a mold that thrives in hot, dry conditions.

Industry representatives also argue that steps have already been taken to use water more efficiently on farms and that more work is underway, such as research on advanced irrigation schedules.

In 2012, a moratorium was placed permits for wells tapping into the parts of the Flint River Basin.

“There’s a tremendous amount of work being done” on water conservation, said Charles Hall, director of the state’s Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, whose members could be among the hardest hit by a water cap.

“A grower does not want to use any more water than is absolutely necessary because it is costing money to put that water out,” Hall said. “It’s not like you turn on the faucet and it runs.”