High heat poses challenges for produce growers
Well, the ‘ber’ months have started: September, October, November and December!
That will hopefully mean that the temperatures will start to moderate but we don’t know when. According to local weather forecasters, this has been the hottest summer in history. I don’t know if that is true, but it has been really toasty.
This extended high heat is causing some challenges for the produce growers. It mainly concerns getting our early season plantings and transplanting to survive. For our local crops to be ready to harvest at the scheduled times, they need to grow according to a planting and harvest date. The seed and transplants now in the ground are going to need extra water. Since both direct seeded crops and transplants are normally sprinkled until they reach a desired state of growth, the additional watering can increase the length of time the sprinklers stay in a field. Once the correct state of growth
is reached, the sprinklers are removed, sanitized and moved to the next field on the schedule. The planting and harvest dates have been developed over years of plant breeding and previous year’s results.
As the season develops, you will see fields that have plants of different sizes. A 40-acre field may be split into 4-10 acre pieces, which are watered 1 week apart for the growing season. This will give the packer/shipper 4-10
fields at peak quality and quantity at harvest time. It is both an art and a science to be successful at growing produce. The greatest challenge is of course the weather but experience and good records can help our farmers continue their amazing success.
As most folks in Yuma County have experienced, the road system often is a challenge. During the winter season, all of a sudden there are huge pieces of equipment traveling
on our roads, including tractors with tillage and produce bed shapers on city streets.
With only the 4th Avenue Bridge to get from Yuma to Bard-winterhaven, everything must funnel through 4th Avenue or Giss Parkway. With the addition of 3 roundabouts to Giss, between Pacific Avenue and 4th Avenue, things can get exciting.
The tractors and sprinkler pipe trailers are not easy to maneuver and require
plenty of room at corners.
The crew buses pulling porta-potties, fertilizer tanks, spray rigs, transplant trucks, fuel haulers and lots of white pickups continually move throughout the area. It is always dangerous to try and pass the wide and often long equipment. Drivers behind farm vehicles cannot see what is in front of them or know where they may slow down and turn. It is worthwhile to plan your trips to avoid the heavily traveled
routes early in the morning and late afternoon. It is almost a certainty that the farm equipment will win in any encounter.
Always leave enough time to take an alternate route if needed. It takes everyone looking out for each other to keep our produce season free of accidents.
Thank you in advance.