A.G. Gancarski
In the wake of Hurricane Irma’s epic flooding last month, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam sounded a dire warning about Florida’s citrus crop.
In Southwest Florida, 80 percent of an already diminished crop was lost, posing an “existential” threat to the sector, Putnam told WUSF last month.
Gov. Scott talked to Putnam directly before a Jacksonville media availability Wednesday, and we asked the governor about the state of Florida citrus — and agriculture more generally — weeks after Irma.
“I’ve talked to people in our citrus industry and they’ve believe they’ve lost their entire year of crops,” Scott said, noting that tree damage is also an issue.
Of course, these impacts are not unique to citrus.
“What the commissioner cares about rightfully is what happened to all of our crops,” Scott said, noting that Florida provides “a lot of the winter crop for the country.”
Scott asked for an emergency declaration from the federal Department of Commerce to “help our ag industry.”
“I’m going to work with the commissioner to make sure that, to the extent that federal resources are available, they come to our state, we’re going to do everything we can to help them come back.”
Scott noted that tourism, fishing, and other sectors were “dramatically impacted” by Irma.
“I’m going to do everything I can to work with the Commissioner of Agriculture, to work with the federal government, to take care of every industry we can,” Scott said.
As the Associated Press reported Wednesday, Irma inflicted more than $2.5 billion in damage to Florida’s agricultural community — with $760 million in damages to oranges alone.
