TALLAHASSEE – With its mix of punishing wind and common flooding, Hurricane Ian brought on up to $1.56 billion in believed losses for the state’s agriculture industry, according to a University of Florida preliminary evaluation.
The assessment, by the College of Florida-Institute of Foods and Agricultural Sciences, approximated industry losses at $786.6 million to $1.56 billion, with the greatest losses for growers of vegetables and melons, citrus and horticultural crops.
“Just after speaking with producers and observing the devastation of Hurricane Ian firsthand, I am saddened, but not stunned by the estimated charge of this storm,” state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried explained in a prepared statement Tuesday. “The effects on Florida’s affected commodities can not be understated, specifically the heartbreaking damage to Florida citrus, an marketplace currently dealing with considerable problems.”
The UF-IFAS report, dated Monday, stated about 4.77 million acres of agricultural land were influenced by Ian, which made landfall Sept. 28 as a Class 4 hurricane in Lee and Charlotte counties and crossed the point out. The storm barreled via major agricultural locations in Southwest and Central Florida, producing wind destruction and flooding fields and groves.
The report bundled ranges of estimated damages for different kinds of crops and livestock manufacturing. Among the other points, it approximated losses to veggies and melons at $208 million to $393.5 million citrus at $146.9 million to $304.3 million and horticultural crops at $153.5 million to $297 million.
It also pointed to continuing uncertainty about the extent of hurt.
“Southwest counties that bought hit the most difficult by Hurricane Ian have remained in rescue and restoration method we foresee our assessments will not be finish for a number of months,” Christa Courtroom, director of the UF/IFAS Economic Influence Investigation Software, stated in a prepared statement. “Our preliminary estimate is a array, a wide selection, to account for lots of of these unknowns. What is not ruined could have diminished generate or quality, which will not be evident for weeks or months, and then even additional effects can surface in the lengthy-phrase.”
The report claimed, for illustration, “the community severity” of injury to citrus crops “will count on the amount of fruit fall, destruction to branches and impacts owing to large precipitation and flooding. Observe that important river flooding gatherings transpired in groves that were outside of the far more extreme wind pace zones, which could have outcomes on output that are not still known.”
The report also pointed to differing results on vegetable and melon crops, which it said are “greatly dependent on the capacity (or inability) to replant destroyed or wrecked crops due to the fact quite a few vegetable crops are shut to or still in planting year in this area. Some growers delayed planting but all those that experienced not are reporting wind damage as perfectly as flooding, the severity of which is dependent on time since planting, sturdiness or hardiness of the plant and the depth and period of flooding.”
Other estimates provided $113.5 million to $221.6 million in a group that involves these factors as beef and dairy cattle and egg production. The report pointed to losses linked to ruined fencing, power outages and flooding.
“Animals can be killed or severely wounded by flooding, traveling and slipping particles, destruction of shelters or loss of feed,” the report claimed.
The point out Section of Agriculture and Client Services also is anticipated to concern storm-related conclusions this 7 days.
The hurricane battered a citrus marketplace that experienced already noticed steep production declines simply because of problems these as deadly citrus greening ailment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a forecast previous week that explained Florida citrus growers all through the 2022-2023 year could have the lowest output given that the Great Melancholy – with the forecast based on surveys in advance of the hurricane.
