Weather

The USDA designated four counties and 10 contiguous counties as natural disaster areas. Farmers in these areas may be eligible for emergency loans and other assistance.

“The reality is we are playing catch-up with a situation that has been worsening for decades exacerbated by drought, disease and even climate change,” farmer, rancher and firefighter Johnnie White testified to Congress.

Citrus growers in Tulare County, Calif., are digging their way out of the muck to restore flood-damaged orchards and salvage the remaining citrus harvest.

“Farmers in the Salinas Valley were picking up the pieces from January’s flood event when hit by the March storm and subsequent flooding,” said Chris Valadez, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.

“For the farms that were flooded, this catastrophe hit at the worst possible time. Farmers had borrowed money to prepare the fields and were weeks away from beginning to harvest," said CSC's Rick Tomlinson.

Western Growers and California Farm Bureau are praising California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to lift regulations, allowing floodwater to recharge aquifers during the ongoing weather crisis across the Golden State.

Economists have confirmed that Florida citrus crops sustained the most extensive hurricane damages, estimated at over $247 million, in a study of Hurricane Ian's impacts to Florida agriculture.

The outlook is good for the California strawberry crop despite statewide storm damage, says the California Strawberry Commission.