Irma’s Aftermath
The Southeast is in full recovery mode from the wrath of Hurricane Irma — but it is going to take weeks, months and even years, before we know the total damage she inflicted on growers in the region.
According to a report from the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA), structural damage and crop losses are widespread throughout the Florida peninsula, but by the end of last week many of them had already resumed shipments.
As growers assessed the damage to their greenhouses and property and navigated their way through many of the flooded areas, they were working feverishly to get back to “normal.”
“It’s way too early to tally the losses, yet we know most of the state’s nursery and greenhouse crop growers are impacted,” said FNGLA CEO Ben Bolusky last Thursday, “Almost all have lost some and some have lost all.”
For those growers who didn’t sustain too much structural damage, the biggest issue was that many places were without power. Crews were working around the clock to get power restored, but it is going to take time before everyone has electricity again.
There is a shortage of large, commercial generators to provide electricity to the nurseries, so things like control and irrigation systems were not operating which will affect their crops and could add even more to the losses.
Growers in the Southeast are going to be feeling Hurricane Irma’s impact for a long time. The labor situation in the region has been pretty tight over the past few years, and it is expected to be even more challenging in the weeks ahead.
FNGLA has posted some photos of some of the production operations that were hit by Irma. You can view them here.
As I mentioned last week, I would be very interested to hear from those of you that were affected by Irma. If you have a spare moment, please drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com to share your Irma experiences.
P.S. Don’t forget, you still have time to sign up for GPN’s webinar on “Helping Growers Identify, Correct and Prevent Common Disease Problems in Ornamentals.” Industry consultant Roger Styer will present the free, one-hour webinar on Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. EDT. Click here for more information or to sign up.
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