Florida farmers and ranchers could see up to $1.5 billion in Hurricane Ian-related losses

By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN

Florida farmers and ranchers lost up to $1.56 billion in crops, livestock, and nursery and aquaculture products due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, according to a new preliminary analysis from the University of Florida released Tuesday.

The assessment done by the UF/IFAS Economic Analysis program puts the preliminary losses between $787 million and $1.56 billion across millions of acres of agricultural lands impacted by the hurricane. Citrus, vegetables, melons, and livestock sustained the most “significant production losses,” the report said.

“Even though the coast — an area with comparatively less agricultural production than inland areas — bore some of the worst impacts of the storm, the strong winds and heavy rains battered a wide swath of the peninsula that includes over 5 million acres of agricultural land,” said Christa Court, director the Economic Analysis program.

High winds blew off tree branches, heavy rains flooded fields and damage to fencing and power outages caused issues for livestock and producers of animal products.

Before Hurricane Ian, many crops were already facing headwinds coming off a hard freeze in January and “greening,” a deadly citrus virus that has been killing citrus trees. Some of the hardest hit areas and fields in the southwestern part of the state are still in recovery mode and not accessible for evaluation — which means final damage assessments could change, according to the report.

“Our preliminary estimate is a range, a wide range, to account for many of these unknowns. What isn’t destroyed might have diminished yield or quality, which will not be apparent for weeks or months, and then even more effects can appear in the long-term,” said Court.

Assessments are still ongoing and the final value of agricultural losses to the state will not be complete for weeks, according to the report.

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