See the latest in Hurricane Disaster Relief Legislation.

 

Hurricane Irma did a number on the Florida ag industry, especially the beleaguered citrus industry. Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam and others have been pushing for hurricane disaster relief legislation. Executive Vice President/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, Mike Sparks, gave an update on proposed hurricane disaster relief legislation in a Citrus Mutual article. See the details below.

The Latest on Hurricane Disaster Relief Legislation

 

The following are summaries from Sparks’ update:

  • “Congress passed…a large tax bill. That legislation includes Congressman Buchanan’s citrus tax provision. This will help our industry recover and was supported by every member of the Florida delegation. This legislation allows the grower to expense the cost of planting a new grove in the first year, which previously required 10 years of depreciation.”
  • “The disaster recovery supplemental that the White House released just before Thanksgiving did NOT include financial assistance for Florida growers and was of little or no use to Florida agriculture. Thanks to Congressman Tom Rooney, the House rewrote the legislation and the final product is a very good one for Florida citrus. After Congress passed the tax bill this week, it turned its focus to closing out the year. Thanks to the efforts of Congressman Tom Rooney and Congressman Dennis Ross, a current disaster bill that included financial assistance for citrus growers was passed out of the House yesterday. Unfortunately, the Senate wasn’t able to take it up before Congress left for the year.”

In a press release, Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam said, “Today’s vote is an important first step to get Florida’s farmers, ranchers and growers, who suffered more than $2.5 billion damages from Hurricane Irma, long-awaited and desperately needed relief. Without this emergency assistance, Florida agriculture cannot fully recover from the unprecedented damage it suffered.”

Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.