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Florida dairy farmers getting back on their feet after Hurricane Irma

Florida dairy farmers getting back on their feet after Hurricane Irma

Some producers are sharing equipment during these difficult times

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

Some Florida dairy producers are beginning to rebuild after Hurricane Irma struck last week.

The Category 4 hurricane made landfall on Sept. 10, wiping out a number of homes and businesses. And farmers, like many others impacted by the storm, are sorting through their properties.

“We’re working on a (state) assessment right now,” Brian Chapman, industry relations manager with Florida Dairy Farmers, told Farms.com today. “We’re getting damage assessments right now (from farmers) and contacting others.”

Of the more than 100 dairy farms in Florida, those in the southern part of the state, and in Irma’s path, receives the most damage.

But luckily, the amount of catastrophic damage has been very low, Chapman said.

“There has not been a huge loss of animals, which is a good thing,” he said. “Most of the farms have structural and wind damage but, in terms of total devastation, we haven’t seen that yet.”

The hurricane also wiped out a number of power lines.

About 1.8 million people in Florida are without power, according to Reuters. But producers have rallied around one another to lend a hand where possible.

“The farmers have continued to function, running off of generators, and there’s been a large amount of sharing of commodities and other things that are needed,” Chapman said.

But that’s not to say there hasn’t been any challenges

Some farmers were forced to dump milk after the hurricane due to lack of storage space and a low point, in terms of demand.

“You got to keep those cows milking, you can’t stop milking them and that’s the biggest thing for dairy farmers,” producer Jerry Dakin told ABC Action News. “The milk that we produce now, there’s no place to put it. The stores south of us don’t have (electricity) or anything so the milk is going on the ground.”


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