The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) had staff in the fields as producers continue to assess damages caused by recent freezing temperatures and work to salvage impacted produce. Last week, the Florida Department of Transportation issued an emergency order helping farmers impacted by freezing temperatures to move as much product as possible while it is still salvageable following a state of emergency being declared.
Both the state of emergency declaration and emergency order were requested Wednesday by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on behalf of Florida’s farmers.
“I’m glad to see our emergency requests were granted expeditiously, helping our Florida farmers in their response and recovery efforts as their harvests were hurt by record cold temperatures,” said Commissioner Fried. “Our Department continues to work closely with our industry partners as damage assessments continue and will request further state and federal assistance as needed to help our producers respond to and recover from this extreme weather event. Together, we’ll keep Florida growing and our state’s agriculture industry strong.”
Today, FDACS Bureau Chief of Inspection Liz Miller was in South Florida to meet with farmers and view impacted fields as damages to fruit and vegetable harvests continue to be assessed by producers across the state.
For more information:
Erin Moffet
Florida Department of Agriculture
Email: Erin.Moffet@FDACS.gov