Debby causes up to $263M in farm losses

Hurricane Debby's impact on FL agriculture

Ariel Plasencia reports

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Hurricane Debby caused up to $263.2 million in estimated losses to crops and farm animals when the Category 1 rainmaker swept through North Florida last month.

Preliminary findings by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, known as UF/IFAS, could mean the agricultural damages from Debby were close to losses from Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm that roared across the same rural region nearly a year earlier.

"There always are impacts to agriculture of these types of events," Christa Court, UF/IFAS economic impact analysis program director, said Thursday during a call with reporters. "Hurricane Debby was not quite as intense as Hurricane Idalia, which might still be somewhat fresh on people's minds. But it's still a reminder that there's a lot of production of agriculture out in Florida."

UF/IFAS found Debby affected more than 2.2 million acres of agricultural land in the state, with two-thirds of the land used for livestock grazing. It resulted in an estimated $93.7 million to $263.2 million in losses, with the loss amount expected to be narrowed in the coming months.

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About $3.1 billion in annual agricultural production occurs in the areas, and Court said it could take several years before long-term impacts from Idalia and Debby are understood.

The Debby estimates are mostly tied to the current growing season and don’t include damage to items such as fertilizer and feed or repairs for damaged and destroyed infrastructure.

Debby came ashore near Steinhatchee in Taylor County on Aug. 5 with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.

The hurricane produced tropical storm-force winds and rains over more than 30 counties as far south as Lee County. The rural North Florida counties of Suwannee, Lafayette and Dixie each received more than 15 inches of rain between Aug. 2 and Aug. 8.

The storm resulted in between $41.1 million and $98.5 million in losses to farm animals in the state, ranging from stressed and injured beef and dairy cattle to salinity issues that affected shellfish aquaculture.

Flooding caused field crops to suffer between $19.3 million and $53.1 million in damage. Greenhouses and nurseries had up to $53.6 million in losses, including from power outages that hindered necessary cooling and irrigation.

Debby interrupted the planting schedule for vegetables, melons and potatoes and resulted in $12.1 million to $32.1 million in anticipated losses.

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"They're just now planting, or just now getting ready to plant, so had the storm happened one to three weeks later than it did, it would be a very different story," Court said.

Flooding and winds are estimated to have caused $3 million to $12.9 million in impacts to non-citrus fruit and tree nuts.

The citrus industry didn’t report significant or widespread losses from Debby, but rain could result in up to $13 million in losses, the UF/IFAS report said.

By comparison, Idalia, which made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, affected 3.5 million acres and caused production losses of $276 million. Beef cattle, dairy cattle, poultry and aquaculture accounted for $157.6 million in estimated losses from Idalia.

When damaged infrastructure and losses suffered by the timber industry are included, a state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services estimate put damages from Idalia at $447 million.

Forestry-related losses are assessed by the Florida Forest Service, which is part of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The department hasn’t produced a similar report for Debby.

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