County Agriculture Dodges Hurricane Bullet

    “We got lucky.”
   Kris Sutton of Umatilla's Faryna Grove Care and Harvesting joined Lake County's broader agricultural interests in breathing a sigh of relief that the worst of Hurricane Ian's impact on the state's farming industry was confined to areas south. Sutton, speaking on the potential damage to county citrus this week, said the local area's damage was nonexistent compared to southern counties that saw a large percentages of the coming year's citrus crop blown off trees.
   "I've heard down south something like 80% of the crop was on the ground," Sutton said. "That's devastating. Here, it's fine. We had a couple of small reset trees snap over, and most of the growers had minimal, if any, fruit drop." Sutton did say southern areas of the county showed more wind than North Lake, with some trees showing leaves being blown off trees. But that situation is more of a visual annoyance than a long-term problem.
   Michael Graham of Graham Farms echoed the sentiment of dodging a bullet, saying that both his Umatilla location's fall blackberry crop, as well as a just-planted Altoona strawberry and vegetable field, escaped damage.
   "If we had gotten it worse, that Altoona field would have washed away," Graham said. Graham had placed large hay rolls around the field to help protect it during the storm, a visual oddity for sure, but an effective way to shield new plantings from the worst of the wind.
   There was some infrastructure damage to agricultural operations, as reported by Ryan Atwood, who operates blueberry operations throughout the area.
   “One of the roofs of our pole barn well houses blew off, and a couple of trees are down that we have cut up,” he said. “But all in all we came out very well.”
   Small growers reported losing specialty crops, with several residents reporting losing avocados that were blown off trees during the storm.
   More broadly, the Florida Farm Bureau is calculating Florida’s agriculture industry suffered extensive damage from the storm.
   “Many of our farmers and ranchers are still assessing the damage,” said Rachael Smith, spokesperson for the FFB. “We won’t know the extent for several weeks.”
   Smith said Florida’s varied production means a varied damage report could be coming.
   “The extent of damage varies depending on the commodity and its geographic location. Florida Farm Bureau is working with University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers to help distribute an assessment survey to collect information about agricultural losses and damages resulting from Hurricane Ian.”
   Additionally, Farm Bureau operates a relief fund to support families impacted by the storm.
   "Florida Farm Bureau's Hurricane Relief Fund assists farm families who have been impacted. Donations can be made online or mailed directly to the bureau's state office in Gainesville. For more information on the relief fund, visit www.floridafarmbureau.org/hurricane-ian-relief-fund."