TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s worst drought in two decades has parched crops and spiked watering costs. Wildfires have burned more than 135,000 acres statewide. And a winter storm earlier this year slammed the Sunshine State with below-freezing temperatures, wiping out entire crops and leaving plants with lasting damage.
Less than six months into the year, Florida’s agriculture industry is searching for relief after severe weather events have caused billions of dollars in damages and created an uncertain future for farmers.
The Sunshine State is an agriculture powerhouse, one of the nation’s top producers for crops like oranges, strawberries, sugarcane and sweet corn. Yet even before this year’s weather events, farmers were hurting: Rising input costs, sprawling new land development and severe weather damage from years past have pushed generational growers from one of the state’s foundational industries. This year’s natural disasters, particularly the freezes, have only intensified the industry’s troubles.
“I mean, it’s a disaster. There’s no doubt about that. It’s an economic disaster to agriculture,” said Jeb Smith, the president of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation.
