ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Agriculture losses in Florida from Hurricane Ian’s excessive winds and drenching rains could attain $1.56 billion, with citrus, cattle, vegetable and melon operations among the many hardest hit, the University of Florida reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate.
The faculty’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences mentioned there could be many impacts which might be but to emerge from flooded acreage and rely in half on whether or not some broken crops could be replanted to salvage a few of the winter vegetable rising season.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty,” mentioned Christa Court, an economist and director of financial evaluation for the institute. “The effects can be very different in a single location.”
The estimated losses this 12 months are for a excessive situation of $1.56 billion and a low potential loss of about $787 million. That’s in an space of Florida the place complete agricultural manufacturing is valued at greater than $8 billion on an annual foundation, in keeping with the report.
“It’s not completely devastating to the entire agriculture industry in the state,” Court mentioned throughout a web based news convention. “Some of the seasons were just getting started.”
Hurricane Ian swept ashore Sept. 28 in southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm with winds estimated at 155 mph, then bisected the middle of the state, the place most agricultural manufacturing is positioned. About 5 million acres of farmland have been affected by the storm, in keeping with the UF report.
Before the storm, citrus manufacturing in Florida was already forecast to drop by a 3rd in contrast with the 12 months earlier than, in half due to winter freezes and ongoing illness issues. Now, a major supply of orange juice for a lot of the nation will take one other hit, with losses estimated at as a lot as $304.2 million.
