Florida citrus growers still reeling a year after Hurricane Ian

AccuWeather

One year after Hurricane Ian made landfall, citrus growers in Florida continue to feel impacts from the devastating storm.

Transcript

00:00 the storm. It's a big deal.

00:01 It's a big deal. It's a big

00:02 deal. It's a big deal. It's a

00:04 big deal. It's a big deal.

00:07 People that love this place

00:08 that live here. They are going

00:10 to make sure that we get back

00:11 all anybody is talking about

00:12 when you're out there, and

00:12 they're stuck in their places

00:16 is we're going to rebuild. It

00:18 was on this day one year ago

00:19 that Hurricane Ian made land

00:21 fall in southwest Florida.

00:22 Accurate weather began issuing

00:24 track forecast for the storm a

00:25 full three days before the

00:26 National Hurricane Center and

00:27 the National Hurricane Center

00:30 was launched. It was a

00:31 catastrophic hurricane as it

00:33 approached Florida. All right,

00:34 Welcome back to act with early

00:36 and thanks for joining us. On

00:38 this day of remembrance in

00:40 making landfall as a category

00:42 four hurricane. What a scene

00:45 that day and still year later,

00:46 there's still lots of damage.

00:48 Unfortunately this is something

00:49 that I know you and I will

00:50 never forget, and I'm sure that

00:50 there are hundreds of thousands

00:51 of people across the southeast

00:54 who feel the same way. And of

00:56 course, we will be continuing

00:57 to be in touch with you as we

00:58 learn more about the damage

01:00 that this hurricane has caused

01:02 and will continue to cause

01:03 problem. In fact, it plowed

01:04 through the citrus groves in

01:06 central Florida. Now the state's

01:07 Department of Agriculture and

01:08 Consumer Services estimated

01:11 losses from Ian. Cost growers

01:15 up to $675 million. That is so

01:17 tough. Now Glenn Beck is a

01:18 citrus grower and a member of

01:20 the Florida Citrus Mutual, a

01:21 trade organization representing

01:24 2000 growers and Glenn joins us

01:26 live from the city of

01:28 San Francisco. Glenn, how has

01:28 this been for you? I mean, I

01:29 can't imagine it has been

01:33 quite a busy year. It has and

01:36 we're still reeling from the

01:38 effects of the storm. It's the

01:39 recovery for this is going to

01:42 take years. The problem being

01:44 it comes on the heels of almost

01:45 two decades of disease pressure

01:49 and. Increased input costs, so

01:50 it was kind of the crowning

01:52 blow for many growers, but we

01:52 still have a lot of work to do

01:56 to get through this. And you

01:57 mentioned a little bit about

01:58 sister Scrapp. Can you explain

02:00 a little bit about what you

02:02 grow and how your day to day

02:03 works and how it's impacted by

02:05 the weather and by disease and

02:07 by any, let's say insects or

02:07 anything else that could cause

02:11 problems. Well in recent years,

02:14 there's a multitude of, you

02:16 know, pest and disease that we

02:18 deal with now that we haven't

02:21 been able to get to the root

02:23 of the problem. And then of

02:25 course, with the pandemic,

02:26 people also come the influx of

02:30 invasive pest and diseases. So

02:30 it is escalating every year

02:35 what we have to deal with. That

02:36 is so tough, and I have to ask

02:38 you this. What do you think is

02:39 the future in that case for

02:41 Florida citrus? Do you think

02:41 there's a light at the end of

02:42 the tunnel? And are there any

02:43 strategies there in place to

02:47 help citrus farmers? We think

02:50 there's a lot of work to be

02:52 done. We've been working with

02:52 the CDC and the FDA and the

02:55 FDA in the. Fight against

02:57 disease. Well, the research has

03:00 yielded some some therapies

03:02 that we can employ now, both in

03:04 the in the way of any

03:06 microbials and plant growth

03:06 regulators and even just

03:09 different techniques. All of

03:11 which are helping us, you know,

03:13 cope with the disease. So we're

03:15 is grim as things are at the

03:17 present. There's optimism that

03:18 we're going to be able to

03:20 continue to grow and thrive.

03:22 And we've been talking a lot

03:23 this week here on AccuWeather

03:25 about the rainfall in Florida

03:26 this week, thunderstorms of

03:28 heavy rain coming across not

03:29 just the peninsula, but the

03:31 panhandle to is that rainfall a

03:33 benefit or a detriment for

03:34 citrus? Is there a line where

03:38 it becomes too much? There is

03:40 as the case with with any crop

03:41 that there's a point that, you

03:46 know, Uh, You get too much. We

03:46 get too much rain. We get too

03:48 much rain. We get too much

03:50 rain. So the the the rainfall

03:51 that we're receiving now and

03:53 this year, you know, pales in

03:53 comparison to what we had last

03:57 year. So thus far with there's

03:59 nothing that we've this year

04:00 that we haven't been able to

04:02 deal with weather wise. Glenn

04:04 Beck, Citrus grower and a

04:05 member of Florida's Citrus

04:06 Mutual. Thank you so much for

04:08 joining us and for all of the

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