Florida experienced between $93.7 and $263.2 million in agricultural production losses due to Hurricane Debby, according to a UF/IFAS report released on Thursday.
The preliminary UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program (EIAP) released was based on producer surveys. Hurricane Debby, a Category 1 storm that made landfall on Aug. 5 near Steinhatchee, affected over 2.2 million acres of agricultural land with 68% used for grazing.
By comparison, Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm that hit Florida in August 2023 and affected 3.5 million acres, caused $276 million in agricultural production losses.
Highlights
- The UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program rapidly assesses the impacts to Florida agriculture following extreme weather events. The preliminary report for Hurricane Debby is newly released.
- The report estimates a credible range of losses between $93.7 million and $263.2 million. This range will be narrowed in a final report released in the coming months.
- The estimate includes the value of shellfish and finfish aquaculture but does not include the value of damage to stored agricultural inputs like fertilizer and feed, stored harvested products or infrastructure.
“Hurricane Debby’s path through the state largely mirrored Hurricane Idalia’s; however. no two storms are alike,” said Christa Court, UF/IFAS EIAP director, in a press release. “While Idalia brought more intense winds, Debby was a wetter storm with more agricultural lands experiencing flooding.”
The counties receiving the brunt of Hurricane Debby included Suwannee, Dixie, Lafayette and Taylor, but heavy rains and tropical storm-force winds also extended as far south as Lee County, according to the report. Parts of northern and Southwest Florida, including Sarasota, Manatee and Suwanee counties, experienced over 15 inches of rain from Aug. 2-8.
The report indicated that 2.1% of the impacted agricultural land experienced high-intensity weather conditions, 56.3% experienced moderate-intensity weather conditions and 41.6% had low-intensity weather conditions.
The estimated range of production losses for the marketing or current growing season for select commodity groups include:
- Animals and animal products: $41.1 million to $98.5 million.
- Field and row crops: $19.3 million to $53.1 million.
- Greenhouse/Nursery: $15.0 million to $53.6 million.
The production loss is estimated based on survey responses specific to Hurricane Debby, along with observations from past events, and the loss percentages can vary widely across operations – even within the same commodity group, Court said in the press release.
“In the early days and weeks after a hurricane event, many agricultural operations are unsure of the true extent of impacts of the event on their growing operations,” she said. “Also, many crops within the vegetables, melons and potatoes commodity group were out of season or not yet planted, and many growers experiencing zero or minimal impacts on their operations do not report this information. We will continue to collect information specific to Hurricane Debby, which will improve the accuracy of these estimates in our final report.”
The UF/IFAS EIAP report relies heavily on survey responses from agricultural producers. In addition to improving the public’s understanding of the economic importance of agriculture, the results collected are used to improve the agricultural industry’s resilience by informing emergency planning exercise, disaster response and recovery and policy discussions.
The UF/IFAS EIAP will continue to collect data from Hurricane Debby through 2025 via the Assessment of Losses and Damages to Florida Agriculture from Hazard/Disaster Events tool. The information given will be used in the program’s final report on the storm, which is expected at the end of 2024.
