The preliminary damage assessment for agriculture following Hurricane Ian including production and infrastructure has been estimated between $1,180,714,303 and $1,888,305,886.
Those figures were released Monday by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried.
“While today’s assessment is a preliminary snapshot of the losses to Florida agriculture, it is a critical first step in the process of securing federal disaster aid for our hard-working producers,” said Commissioner Fried. “We will continue our close collaboration on the ground with industry partners to gain further insight into the depth and breadth of Ian’s damage. As we move ahead on the road to recovery, I look forward to working with Florida’s Congressional Delegation and our U.S. Senators on a relief package to help restore Florida’s second largest industry.
A breakdown of the losses included:
- Citrus: estimates are combined at a value range of $416,905,273 to $675,529,404 in citrus damages
- Fruits and Vegetables: estimates are combined at a value range of $153,722,214 to $230,583,321 in fruits and vegetables damages.
- Field Crops (including Sugarcane): estimates are combined at a value range of $86,434,127 to $160,358,621 in field crops damages.
- Horticultural Crops: estimates are combined at a value range of $153,531,344 to $297,047,800 in horticultural crops damages.
- Animal and Animal Products (including Aquaculture and Dairy): estimates are combined at a value range of $337,385,791 to $492,051,186 in animal and animal products damages and production damages.
- Forestry: estimates are combined at a value of $32,735,554 in timber damages.
A complete copy of the FDACS damage assessment can be seen here. The document provides an early summary of the estimated losses to Florida’s agricultural sectors, accounting for the loss in current year crop production, citrus, fruit &tree nuts, vegetables and melons, field and row crops, horticultural crops, animals/animal products and forestry as well as the associated losses to direct and related infrastructure.
These estimates are based on data obtained from the UF-IFAS Preliminary Assessment of Hurricane Ian, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Florida Census of Agriculture, USDA My Market News, Timber Damage Estimates prepared by the Florida Forest Service, and the early communication conducted by FDACS with industry leaders and individual producers.
Building on the UF/IFAS assessment released last week, which considered crop and animal product losses, FDACS is considering citrus tree replacement, animal infrastructure damages, and forestry for a potential loss of up to $1.8 billion for Florida producers.
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