As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida’s west coast, key agricultural facilities, including fertilizer plants, livestock feeding operations and a major flour mill, have halted operations. The Category 4 storm is prompting evacuations along a 300-mile coastline, with landfall expected near Tampa Bay around midnight.
Milton’s impact comes in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which struck the Big Bend region on September 26, causing significant damage to the Southeast’s agricultural sector. Mosaic, a leading fertilizer producer, ceased operations in Florida due to the storm. The company, responsible for nearly 75% of North America’s phosphate fertilizers, had already suffered disruptions from Helene, with a facility in Riverview, Florida, taken offline due to damage from rising waters .
Veronica Nigh, senior economist at The Fertilizer Institute, expressed concerns about the impact of Helene and Milton on the phosphate market. According to Nigh, the region around Tampa Bay is home to a significant portion of U.S. production capacity for ammonium phosphate, phosphate rock and wet-processed phosphoric acid. The area is also a major export hub, with Port Tampa Bay handling a substantial portion of the United States’ phosphate fertilizer and total fertilizer exports.
Ardent Mills, a flour producer, has closed its Port Redwing mill, which has the capacity to produce 816,466 kilograms of flour per day using both imported grains and wheat from the Midwest and Southeast. The mill, which began operations in 2022, is now idle in anticipation of the hurricane’s arrival.
Additionally, global food company Cargill Inc took precautionary measures by closing its salt packaging and animal nutrition facility located in the path of the impending storm. These closures reflect the broader shutdowns occurring across the state as residents and businesses prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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