Jan Wesner Childs
Hurricane Idalia left Florida farmers with losses between $78 million and $371 million, according to preliminary estimates from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
That figure doesn’t include damage to farm buildings, equipment and other agricultural infrastructure, or losses to timber, a major industry in areas hit by the storm
Idalia made landfall on August 30 in a rural section of north Florida.
“Idalia took a track straight through the Florida Big Bend into southern Georgia and the coastal plain,” weather.com digital meteorologist Jonathan Belles said. “This took Idalia through pecan, peanuts and cotton country.”
Wind gusts up to 85 mph were reported after landfall along with heavy rainfall. That could hamper regrowth of crops for years to come, Belles said.
(MORE: Idalia Ties As Florida Big Bend’s Record Strongest Hurricane)
The storm’s path covered about 5,000 square miles of agricultural land in Florida, according to the UF report. That included grazing areas as well as operations like poultry and dairy farms and nurseries.
“The commodity groups that were most affected in terms of acreage by hurricane conditions were animals and animal products,” Christa Court, director of the UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program, said in a news conference. “That category includes things like beef and dairy, cattle, poultry, any sort of milk, egg, honey production, as well as shellfish aquaculture.”
Losses in that sector are estimated at $30.1 million to $123.4 million.
(MORE: What To Expect From Hurricane Season In October, November)
Losses in field and row crops, including peanuts and cotton, are estimated at between $30.7 million and $93.6 million. Greenhouse and nursery products losses are estimated to be from $4.7 million to $68.8 million.
In addition, more than 3,000 agricultural structures - such as chicken houses or greenhouses - were exposed to Category 3 winds from Idalia, Court said.
Separately, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services puts estimated damage to timber at nearly $65 million.
(MORE: Aerial Photos Show What Idalia Left Behind)
Georgia pecan crops also took a beating from Idalia. Trees were knocked down, branches ripped off and nuts blown away. Some pecan growers reported up to 80% of some orchards were lost.
Growers like James and Linda Exum say the damage was staggering. The couple lost about 400 pecan trees on their 200 acres of land in Brooks County, which sits on the Florida-Georgia line just east of Valdosta.
“Some parts of our orchards look like a bomb was dropped on it,” Linda Exum told Georgia Farm Bureau. “Some of this damage James and I will never see the farm recover from in our lifetime.”
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Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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