By Clint Thompson
Hurricane events are almost a guarantee every year for Florida specialty crop producers to contend with. Some years, specifically 2024, are worse than others.
Between Debby, Helene and Milton, all of the state’s agricultural areas experienced some impact from the storms. How can Florida farmers be ready in the future to withstand the impacts of strong storms? It’s all about being prepared, says Christa Court, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Economic Impact Analysis Program (EIAP) director.
“I think we need to think a lot about preparation. We can prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Court said. “There is information coming out of NOAA that lets us know what the return date of storms for a particular size are. I think that’s probably one of the things that growers should be considering when making these longer term business plans; this might happen and are they prepared for it and are they taking advantage of things like crop insurance or risk management tools that are available to them?
“If they’re not available for a particular commodity or a grower doesn’t feel that they can properly be prepared for an event like this, those are conversations we need to be having at the state level and federal level to determine how we can help if there are other ways or other types of programs that would help with that risk management.”
Helene Impact
North Florida’s specialty crop sector was impacted by Helene when it moved through the region on Sept. 26-27. The EIAP estimated agricultural production losses between $40.3 million and $162.2 million for Florida due to Hurricane Helene.
Production losses estimated for vegetables, melons and potatoes in the affected area range from $10.5 million to $38.2 million. Estimated production losses for fruit and tree nuts in the affected area range from $3.2 million and $12.1 million.
A damage assessment is expected soon for Hurricane Milton.