WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — Farmers in Hawaii are assessing damage after a large hurricane passed near the islands this week.
USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says specialty crop growers could see some of the greatest impacts.
“The strongest hurricane on record to ever make landfall in Hawaii struck Hawaii back on September eleventh of nineteen ninety two. That was Hurricane Aniki. In the agricultural sector, one thing that has changed since nineteen ninety two is that sugarcane is no longer commercially grown in Hawaii. We did see significant impacts on the sugar cane industry. However, what has not changed is that we still have a variety of specialty crops that are grown that could be damaged from these hurricane force wind gusts across Hawaii. Some of the impacts we do expect to see related to the hurricane’s passage just to the west could include damage to bananas, papayas, guavas, passion fruit, a variety of vegetables, also nursery stock or nursery products and nut crops, as well as concerns about infrastructural damage to livestock pens and poultry houses.”
Last month, Hurricane Lala brought record rainfall just south of the Hawaiian Islands. The Farmers Union reports more than $3 million in losses from that storm.
