Farmers and ranchers along the East Coast are working to dig out from two massive hurricanes over the last two weeks - the most recent being Hurricane Milton, which dealt a direct blow to Florida’s ag industry.
USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie says the Department is there to help and more resources are heading to those areas in the coming days.
“Yeah, the Secretary is down in Florida and Georgia in the wake of Helene. We, our staff, myself, and others will plan to get down there in the next two or three weeks. We’ve got staff headed down this weekend to deal with some of the impacts of Helene. So critically important the message we want to send to everybody in agriculture is that we’re going to be with you for the long haul. This isn’t going to be weeks and months, it’s going to be years, and we’re going to provide everything we can and staffing and support to help farmers get through this.”
These storms are expected to cause millions, if not billions, of dollars of damage to the ag industry.
USDA has money in place right now, but Bonnie says Congress will need to act in order to free up more money. The Farm Bureau says it is hopeful lawmakers will make good use of the lame-duck session.
“We do believe that there is a window for that additional assistance. And of course, going back to what Congress has to do at the end of the year, we certainly believe that this will be a part of that conversation,” said Emily Buckman.
Florida is home to a number of ag operations that took a direct hit from Hurricane Milton. Producers in the area warn tomato prices could go up in the coming weeks, and they say there is little time to replant, leaving a lot of those crops in jeopardy.
