The U.S. economy is expected to experience approximately $290 billion dollars of damages with the devastation from Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. While Harvey's has concluded, Florida is still bracing itself for damages that Irma has in store for it. This weekend, Florida saw Irma stray west which was good, however the category 3 hurricane still caused serious economic problems to the state of Florida.
There are more than 47,000 commercial farms in Florida, and in 2016, Florida was the nation's top producer for a large portion of the fruit and vegetable market, such as oranges, grapefruits, watermelons, tomatoes, and cucumbers, as well as sugar cane. The sales of oranges and grapefruit sales totaled to $825 million in 2016. Irma is predicted to hit over 9.4 million acres of farmland in Florida.
The predictions made by farmers could see that 50% of the citrus crop in Florida could be devastated, which is even more serious given that most crops have not been harvested yet. The market for these crops have ramped prices nearly 20% and has had the U.S. agricultural futures market anxious all week in preparation for the storms damages. Not only has the price increased, but farmland insurance firms may raise their premiums significantly following Irma.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-irma/worry-about-florida-farmland-advances-along-irma-n799876
I think this you have a point when mentioning insurance raising premiums. We have seen similar action taken in the cattle industry of Texas. Insurance is so high the owners don't purchase it, and in this case it was needed because nearly a quarter of the cattle have been wiped out.
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