Florida officials say Hurricane Irma caused more than $2.5 billion in damage to Florida's agricultural community. Of this, $760 million in damage was dealt to the state's iconic orange crop.
The preliminary assessment was released Wednesday by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam.
The powerful hurricane damaged nearly all the citrus fruit in some Southwest Florida groves and seriously damaging groves in Central Florida. Growers talked of trees standing in 3 feet (.9 meters) of water, which is a death sentence for a crop already under a decade-long siege by citrus greening disease. Much of the fruit was young, and it's too late in the season for a new crop.
Source: cumberlink.com
