By Clint Thompson
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Economic Impact Analysis Program (EIAP) estimates agricultural production losses between $40.3 million and $162.2 million for Florida due to Hurricane Helene.
It will be a few more months before farmers and industry experts receive a final, more conclusive report, says Christa Court, UF/IFAS EIAP director.
“We typically like to try to wait until the end of harvest season. We’ve had several people say, we can’t answer that until we get to the end of the season and really know what happened. The season is different for every crop. I would say probably in the first quarter of 2025 is when we’ll pull the data again to try to get a final report out,” Court said.
North Florida’s specialty crop sector was impacted by Helene when it moved through the region on Sept. 26-27.
Production losses estimated for vegetables, melons and potatoes in the affected area range from $10.5 million to $38.2 million. Production losses estimated for greenhouse/nursery operations in the affected area range from $2.2 million to $15.0 million. Estimated production losses for fruit and tree nuts in the affected area range from $3.2 million and $12.1 million.