Weather a contrast in extremes but harvests in Colorado going forward
Weather a contrast in extremes but harvests in Colorado going forward
It would take significantly more than the slight rain falling over the agriculture region north of Denver on July 8 to turn around effects of a lingering drought for area farmers, but growers and water conservancy district personnel still welcomed even the hint of moisture at the same time that other parts of the state were hit with flash flooding.
Leading up to the early July monsoon conditions that caused flooding in Colorado's midsection, virtually every square mile of the state had been categorized by the USDA Drought Monitor. Severity ranged from abnormally dry to exceptional drought on June 27, but the first week of July brought rains so heavy that evacuations were ordered and property damage reported, particularly in areas denuded of vegetation by the Hayman and other major wildland fires over the past several years.
Northeast of Denver, where farms have faced critical water shortages this season after a well shutdown ordered in May by the state water engineer, rain was in the forecast on July 8, and Randy Ray of the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District told The Produce News that a light drizzle had started to fall early in the afternoon.
Two weeks prior, growers were hard pressed to remember the last rain, and many of them said it had come in 2005.
Even with serious water restrictions, however, area farmers in late June were making their crops and shipping product even a little earlier than normal.
In Brighton, Bob Sakata, who with his wife, Joanna, was presented with the Colorado Proud Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 at the sixth annual Colorado Proud banquet in Denver, was harvesting broccoli and cabbage in late June and was set to start his corn in late July, followed by onions in mid-August.
David Petrocco Farms in Brighton and LaSalle was harvesting lettuces and other greens, cabbage, spinach and green beans, and the farm's onions were expected to start July 10. Harvest of russets, reds and Yukons at Strohauer Farms began in mid-July, with fingerlings to come in mid-August.
Those three growers, among 200 who were affected by the shutdown of 450 irrigation wells through the office of the state water engineer in early May, initiated private water augmentation plans following a June denial of a conservancy district emergency water plan. The objection to the plan and its ultimate denial was made by the cities of Boulder and Sterling along with other water management entities.
In all, 20,000 acres and 200 farmers were affected by the move. Mr. Petrocco said that the drought which has persisted over Colorado had "tremendous impact" on the water restrictions, and Mr. Sakata said that July and August will be critical times for the crops.
Strohauer Farms has maximized its surface water, Mr. Strohauer said, adding that in late June he had "most of my [augmentation] water secured and will begin dumping water in early July to replenish" what he will pump.
"I got my attorneys on May 10," Mr. Strohauer said the last week of June. "And this is the quickest we could react."
About the state's decision to shut off the irrigation wells to agricultural businesses, Mr. Strohauer said, "Vegetable crops create employment opportunities, and I don't think the state understands the impact this water issue has."
In Greeley, Chuck Bird of Martin Produce said he has seen "some corn fields that might not make it," and Alan Kinoshita of Fagerberg Produce in Eaton said that for regional farmers, the year overall has been "a trying season because of water."
While the Western Slope was not in the same crisis as the Front Range, percentage water was effected in June for growers in the Uncompahgre Water District. Bill Frye of Ringer & Son and Mountain Fresh said that in the Delta and Olathe areas, farmers were receiving 90 percent of their irrigation allotment, and although it was not a threat to crops, running a percentage of water was "a hassle."
Water is also of primary concern in the lower Arkansas Valley, where Joe Pisciotta and his family farm 700 acres east of Pueblo in the Avondale community. He said that labor and escalating fuel costs are consequential as well.
"Water is a big issue," Mr. Pisciotta said in June. "Every year there are more and more guys who can't make [farming] work and are doing what they have to do: selling to development. And now we're fighting immigration and fuel. Fuel is up, so freight is up and chemicals are up. If we could just pass it on like other industries, we would be fine. But we can't pass it on."
About immigration, Mr. Pisciotta said, "The number of workers around here is not what it normally is. We'll have enough workers this year, though, because we go through a local contractor and I provide housing for workers, most who come in early summer and leave after harvest."
Mr. Pisciotta, who raises onions, watermelons, pumpkins and kabocha squash, has a product mix that works well in dry conditions, and his furrow irrigated crops were all nearing their respective harvest dates. Watermelons will come in early August, followed by onions Sept. 20 and pumpkins in late September.
Further down the Arkansas in La Junta, Gary Shane of Gary Shane Farms said that his cantaloupe operation is entirely on drip irrigation and black plastic mulch, and his crop looks excellent this season.
Mr. Shane also grows onions and watermelons, and he said that cantaloupes will start July 18 and run through Sept. 10. Onions are all run through Griffin-Holder in Rocky Ford, and the watermelon season runs from mid-July through early September.
"When it's dry and hot like it is," he said in 90-plus degree heat in late June, "cantaloupes love it."
Bill Grasmick of William Grasmick Inc. in the southeastern Colorado town of Granada said that his farm is in year eight of drought conditions, and he's moved the onion crop around to accommodate water needs. He has only fresh-market onions and is not on well irrigation.
"We've been under a state engineer augmentation plan since 1985," Mr. Grasmick said. "We bought 18,000 acres and they dried up. So we take water allotment for 18,000 acres and put it back in the river so well pumpers can run their wells. In 2003 we were down to 20 percent of our allotment, and there was very little storage water. This year we're at 70 percent of our allotment."
In addition to 700 acres of onions, the majority of which are in river bottom land, Grasmick also produces 150 acres of watermelons in Colorado. The company has onion acreage in Texas as well. Onions started in mid-July, with big volumes set to hit in early August and run through the end of September. Watermelons will start in mid-August.
Labor was very short during planting, and Mr. Grasmick said planting was extended. "None of our people work for less than minimum wage," he said. "And we don't use laborers because they work cheap anyway. It's because they do the job, and I admire their work ethic."
If this year was tight, next year could be far worse, Mr. Grasmick said. "I really think you'll see a difference next year in labor. Something's going to change. I'd like to see someone be proactive, and if we don't put in some sort of guest worker program, we'll have to change the way we do business and be more mechanized."
Mr. Grasmick said his company is optimistic about the onion market, which was strengthening in June. But his overall assessment of farming in Colorado held a cautionary note. "I really think agriculture has become a second-rate citizen in Colorado," he said. "It's such a huge part of the economy, and it does not get the respect it deserves."
Commenting on the increase in imported product, Kerry Villano of Villano Brothers in Fort Lupton said that her family's operation strives for quality, and she added, "I hope people will choose us over the Mexican market. I have a positive attitude, and we try to keep our heads up."
Mr. Sakata had similar sentiments, saying, "In the last six years, we've had all kinds of challenges." There is "no one [at the Colorado state House] truly oriented toward agriculture," he added. "We are one of the greatest industries Colorado has. We are stewards of the land."
(For more on the Colorado produce deal, see the July 24 issue of The Produce News.)
Leading up to the early July monsoon conditions that caused flooding in Colorado's midsection, virtually every square mile of the state had been categorized by the USDA Drought Monitor. Severity ranged from abnormally dry to exceptional drought on June 27, but the first week of July brought rains so heavy that evacuations were ordered and property damage reported, particularly in areas denuded of vegetation by the Hayman and other major wildland fires over the past several years.
Northeast of Denver, where farms have faced critical water shortages this season after a well shutdown ordered in May by the state water engineer, rain was in the forecast on July 8, and Randy Ray of the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District told The Produce News that a light drizzle had started to fall early in the afternoon.
Two weeks prior, growers were hard pressed to remember the last rain, and many of them said it had come in 2005.
Even with serious water restrictions, however, area farmers in late June were making their crops and shipping product even a little earlier than normal.
In Brighton, Bob Sakata, who with his wife, Joanna, was presented with the Colorado Proud Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 at the sixth annual Colorado Proud banquet in Denver, was harvesting broccoli and cabbage in late June and was set to start his corn in late July, followed by onions in mid-August.
David Petrocco Farms in Brighton and LaSalle was harvesting lettuces and other greens, cabbage, spinach and green beans, and the farm's onions were expected to start July 10. Harvest of russets, reds and Yukons at Strohauer Farms began in mid-July, with fingerlings to come in mid-August.
Those three growers, among 200 who were affected by the shutdown of 450 irrigation wells through the office of the state water engineer in early May, initiated private water augmentation plans following a June denial of a conservancy district emergency water plan. The objection to the plan and its ultimate denial was made by the cities of Boulder and Sterling along with other water management entities.
In all, 20,000 acres and 200 farmers were affected by the move. Mr. Petrocco said that the drought which has persisted over Colorado had "tremendous impact" on the water restrictions, and Mr. Sakata said that July and August will be critical times for the crops.
Strohauer Farms has maximized its surface water, Mr. Strohauer said, adding that in late June he had "most of my [augmentation] water secured and will begin dumping water in early July to replenish" what he will pump.
"I got my attorneys on May 10," Mr. Strohauer said the last week of June. "And this is the quickest we could react."
About the state's decision to shut off the irrigation wells to agricultural businesses, Mr. Strohauer said, "Vegetable crops create employment opportunities, and I don't think the state understands the impact this water issue has."
In Greeley, Chuck Bird of Martin Produce said he has seen "some corn fields that might not make it," and Alan Kinoshita of Fagerberg Produce in Eaton said that for regional farmers, the year overall has been "a trying season because of water."
While the Western Slope was not in the same crisis as the Front Range, percentage water was effected in June for growers in the Uncompahgre Water District. Bill Frye of Ringer & Son and Mountain Fresh said that in the Delta and Olathe areas, farmers were receiving 90 percent of their irrigation allotment, and although it was not a threat to crops, running a percentage of water was "a hassle."
Water is also of primary concern in the lower Arkansas Valley, where Joe Pisciotta and his family farm 700 acres east of Pueblo in the Avondale community. He said that labor and escalating fuel costs are consequential as well.
"Water is a big issue," Mr. Pisciotta said in June. "Every year there are more and more guys who can't make [farming] work and are doing what they have to do: selling to development. And now we're fighting immigration and fuel. Fuel is up, so freight is up and chemicals are up. If we could just pass it on like other industries, we would be fine. But we can't pass it on."
About immigration, Mr. Pisciotta said, "The number of workers around here is not what it normally is. We'll have enough workers this year, though, because we go through a local contractor and I provide housing for workers, most who come in early summer and leave after harvest."
Mr. Pisciotta, who raises onions, watermelons, pumpkins and kabocha squash, has a product mix that works well in dry conditions, and his furrow irrigated crops were all nearing their respective harvest dates. Watermelons will come in early August, followed by onions Sept. 20 and pumpkins in late September.
Further down the Arkansas in La Junta, Gary Shane of Gary Shane Farms said that his cantaloupe operation is entirely on drip irrigation and black plastic mulch, and his crop looks excellent this season.
Mr. Shane also grows onions and watermelons, and he said that cantaloupes will start July 18 and run through Sept. 10. Onions are all run through Griffin-Holder in Rocky Ford, and the watermelon season runs from mid-July through early September.
"When it's dry and hot like it is," he said in 90-plus degree heat in late June, "cantaloupes love it."
Bill Grasmick of William Grasmick Inc. in the southeastern Colorado town of Granada said that his farm is in year eight of drought conditions, and he's moved the onion crop around to accommodate water needs. He has only fresh-market onions and is not on well irrigation.
"We've been under a state engineer augmentation plan since 1985," Mr. Grasmick said. "We bought 18,000 acres and they dried up. So we take water allotment for 18,000 acres and put it back in the river so well pumpers can run their wells. In 2003 we were down to 20 percent of our allotment, and there was very little storage water. This year we're at 70 percent of our allotment."
In addition to 700 acres of onions, the majority of which are in river bottom land, Grasmick also produces 150 acres of watermelons in Colorado. The company has onion acreage in Texas as well. Onions started in mid-July, with big volumes set to hit in early August and run through the end of September. Watermelons will start in mid-August.
Labor was very short during planting, and Mr. Grasmick said planting was extended. "None of our people work for less than minimum wage," he said. "And we don't use laborers because they work cheap anyway. It's because they do the job, and I admire their work ethic."
If this year was tight, next year could be far worse, Mr. Grasmick said. "I really think you'll see a difference next year in labor. Something's going to change. I'd like to see someone be proactive, and if we don't put in some sort of guest worker program, we'll have to change the way we do business and be more mechanized."
Mr. Grasmick said his company is optimistic about the onion market, which was strengthening in June. But his overall assessment of farming in Colorado held a cautionary note. "I really think agriculture has become a second-rate citizen in Colorado," he said. "It's such a huge part of the economy, and it does not get the respect it deserves."
Commenting on the increase in imported product, Kerry Villano of Villano Brothers in Fort Lupton said that her family's operation strives for quality, and she added, "I hope people will choose us over the Mexican market. I have a positive attitude, and we try to keep our heads up."
Mr. Sakata had similar sentiments, saying, "In the last six years, we've had all kinds of challenges." There is "no one [at the Colorado state House] truly oriented toward agriculture," he added. "We are one of the greatest industries Colorado has. We are stewards of the land."
(For more on the Colorado produce deal, see the July 24 issue of The Produce News.)
