If saving Florida agriculture is a priority, the time is now

Florida felt the full brunt of Hurricane Irma when it struck the state in September. It was the most destructive hurricane to hit Florida in decades. Packing winds of more than 130 mph and causing widespread flooding, it struck at the heart of Florida’s agricultural industry, causing billions in losses to all areas of production, including citrus, its largest crop. While Florida oranges have long occupied iconic status in American life, if Congress does not act promptly, Florida’s agricultural industry, including its treasured citrus growers and the communities that depend on it, could mark the end of Florida orange production and the state’s vital agricultural sector.

Hurricane Irma caused enormous damage to Florida’s citrus growers. Of the $2.5 billion in damages inflicted by Hurricane Irma on Florida’s agricultural industry, Florida’s orange crop suffered the most — at $760 million, according to Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner. Compounding the struggles of Florida’s citrus growers, the storm struck just a few weeks before harvest, wiping out the crop in hardest hit areas. Irma’s impact not only decimated more than half of this year’s orange crop, it also affects future harvests. The latest crop of oranges from Florida’s growers was the lowest in 75 years.

It will take years for Florida agriculture and citrus growers to recover from Hurricane Irma’s catastrophic impact.

While Congress passed a relief package in October with emergency appropriations for damages from recent hurricanes and wildfires in Texas and California, Florida’s hard-hit agriculture producers and citrus growers were excluded from that aid package — even though promises were made by Congress that they would receive assistance.

To date, no bill in Congress has included emergency agriculture assistance, which is so desperately needed by Florida’s farmers and ranchers. Farmers and growers are left with hefty expenses, but no income to repay their loans. Further, if farmers do not have the dollars to tend their crops now, there won’t be a harvest next year either.

Everybody involved in Florida’s agriculture and citrus industry is suffering. I am one of a generation of growers who are an integral part of small communities like Arcadia, Frostproof, Immokalee, Wauchula, Felda, Clermont, Lake Wales, Clewiston, Avon Park and Sebring. These communities make up the backbone of the state’s citrus sector, which employs more than 45,000 people who plant, pick, fertilize and process the fruit that provides Americans with more than 60 percent of the country’s orange juice.

Yet there is still hope. While the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a recommendation for another round of emergency funding to assist Florida’s agricultural sector, it is up to Congress to swiftly act on that advice and create a relief package that adequately addresses the damages faced by Florida’s diverse array of agricultural producers.

As Florida Rep. Tom Rooney so aptly stated, citrus is not just a crop, it is our way of life. And, without immediate help from Congress, that way of life may soon disappear.

Of the $2.5 billion in damages inflicted by Hurricane Irma on Florida’s agricultural industry, Florida’s orange crop suffered the most — at $760 million, according to Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner.