According to the Fruit Growers News, Hurricane Ian damaged more than 5 million acres of Florida agricultural land, including non-citrus fruit and tree nuts and winegrape vineyards in an estimated $1.56 billion in damages. University of Florida (UF) Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) economists released initial damage estimates. Damages from seasonal crops such as fruits and vegetables, nursery, livestock as well as aquaculture products potentially lost from the Category 4 hurricane is expected to be valued between $787 million and $1.56 billion. There was also a lot of damage to infrastructure like workers’ homes, barns, fences, and farm equipment.
Because the recovery effort is still underway and additional losses of citrus and other crops cannot be determined yet, this estimate could change quite a bit over time as more information is added and additional impacts are observed. Growing Produce has some additional information as well as a slide show with some images of the damage observed.
