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Hurricanes Smashed Cotton and Citrus Crops in Southeastern US

16 october 2024

Severe winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Helen destroyed one-fifth of the cotton crop in Georgia, the second-largest cotton state in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly crop production report (WASDE), Agriculture News reported Oct. 15. A preliminary damage report from the University of Georgia put cotton losses at $207-220 million. State officials said the storm's total damage to Georgia agriculture amounted to $6.46 billion ($625 billion). “Georgia and North Carolina accounted for the majority of the reduction,” the WASDE report said. The hurricane hit the states during harvest time. In addition, poultry farms closed during the rampage, which also took a significant economic toll.

And Florida's citrus industry was decimated by Hurricane Milton, which swept through the state, causing irreparable damage to growers just when they hoped the worst was over for the struggling industry, according to an Oct. 15 report on the online agricultural news platform AgroPages. Experts say the hurricane passed through key citrus-producing counties and while not as devastating as many had feared, it came at the worst possible time for farmers: right before the all-important harvest season. Progress had just been made against a deadly citrus disease that threatened to wipe out orange production when the storm arrived.

That is, Florida's citrus plantations were already in bad shape, and Milton further exacerbated the industry's problems. Before the hurricane arrived, it was expected that only 15 million boxes of oranges would be produced during the 2024/2025 season, a decline of about 16% from last year. Now the estimates are much more pessimistic. Florida's orange production has fallen about 92% in 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Analysts attribute the losses to natural disasters - frosts and hurricanes - and diseases such as citrus greening.

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