Low prices, labor issues, and a shaky economy have put farmers in a tough spot this year.
However, the weather has also been a driving force, with two early-season hurricanes packing quite a punch starting with Hurricane Beryl.
According to USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey, “Beryl, it was at one time the earliest Category 5 Hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, made a close pass on Jamaica, moved across the Yucatan Penninsula and weakened to a tropical storm. But before it hit the middle Texas coast on July 8th, it started to regain some intensity and was a Category 1 Hurricane when it moved ashore.
Beryl caused some major damage in east Texas. It even spun up a round of tornadoes. The damage estimate was around $7 billion.
Just a month later, Hurricane Debbie spun up.
“Eventually moved offshore and then came back in as a tropical storm across South Carolina. It was an agricultural damage across the lower southeast, including parts of Florida and Georgia, into the Carolinas some flooding,” he added.
The hurt did not stop there!
Hurricane Helen and Milton stuck just months later. The University of Florida says that Hurricane Milton took out nearly $6 million acres of farmland in the state.
Nearly 70% of those acres were for grazing. Estimates show that Florida producers lost between $190-650 million dollars. The hardest hit products were vegetables, melons, and potatoes.
