Back in February, Growing Produce published this story about the cost of extreme weather and drought to farmers across the country. I ran across it this week and thought it was worth mentioning here because it is the most comprehensive accounting of agricultural damage for the US as a whole. Note that the dataset they use in their analysis does not include livestock losses, timber losses, or replacement costs of infrastructure, so it will be different than other estimates produced by other groups on hurricane losses, for example.
According to the article, the “Farm Bureau reports drought, excessive heat, and wildfires led to the majority of losses (more than $11 billion). Flooding and hurricanes were next at $6.7 billion. Damage from hail accounted for $1.2 billion in losses. Freezes and frost events resulted in $854 million in damages. Tornadoes and excessive wind events led to $291 million in crop losses.” The map below shows the losses from hurricane- and flooding-related causes alone.
