Hurricane Ian caused a lot of agricultural damage to central Florida when it crossed the peninsula earlier this year. The biggest damage was to citrus, but many vegetable crops also took a hit. Clint Thompson discussed the resulting loss in tomato supply due to the winds knocking off tomatoes and flowers from the plants in Specialty Crop Industry. The result is that tomato production is down to about 30% of it usually is this time of year. The lack of tomatoes has caused prices to rise significantly, and they should stay high until production recovers in a few weeks.

Source: ARS