Drought hurts Snohomish crops, farmers expect more of the same

  • By Amy Nile and Kari Bray Herald Writers
  • Saturday, November 14, 2015 8:16pm
  • Business

MONROE — Nestled in the pastoral Tualco Valley are fields of greens springing from the earth.

Willie Greens Organic Farm boasts about 65 acres of crops, buildings made from 100-year-old Montana barn wood, streams, large greenhouses and grassy spaces. Owner Jeff Miller rides his orange Kubota tractor, cultivating spinach, arugula, cabbage, lettuce, kale, collards and chard. He sells to Whole Foods, Charlie’s Produce and other retailers.

Years ago, the former San Francisco chef decided to trade his apron for Carhartts and give farming a go. After nearly three decades of earning his living from the land south of Monroe, this year’s drought took him by surprise.

“It was definitely an unprecedented challenge,” said Miller, 53.

Though the drought was an anomaly in 2015, it could be the norm by 2050, according to a state climatologist.

Like fellow farmers around Snohomish County, Miller’s business took a hit this year. He lost about 20 percent of his crop but counts himself among the more fortunate local farmers.

The unusually warm weather brought a boon in bugs that hurt crops. Miller said they are expensive to get rid of, especially for organic producers. Many farmers also had to irrigate earlier and more often, which meant hiring extra help and paying for more fuel and water.

They faced an uphill battle to keep fields and pastures healthy as days of dry, hot weather turned into weeks.

Surviving harsh seasons and unpredictable weather is nothing new for farmers. Heavy storms or too much sun can cripple crops, rapidly driving up the cost of feeding livestock. They’ve learned to diversify their harvests and brace themselves to survive tough years.

“It’s just farming,” Miller said. “Farming is a business that’s constantly in flux.”

The drought

This was one of the tougher years, though.

The first statewide drought in a decade decimated snowpack and withheld rain for months. State officials estimated in April that the drought would cost farmers $1.2 billion statewide.

However, that was before Western Washington cities started voluntary water restrictions and Eastern Washington was ravaged by wildfires. The state departments of Agriculture and Ecology are working to figure out how much it actually cost the farming industry. A preliminary report is expected by the end of the year.

This oddball year started with unseasonably high temperatures last fall and winter, followed by a dangerously dry spring and summer.

Statewide, the average fall and winter temperature was 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit higher than usual. From October 2014 to March 2015, the mean was 40.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s compared to the 20th century average of 35.8 degrees for the same months, according to the Office of the State Climatologist.

In the mountains, clouds that usually deposit snow dropped rain instead. Snowpack hit record lows. It was “just dismal,” Assistant State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco said.

Then Washington entered the warmest and driest spring in recent memory, said Brent Bower, a Seattle hydrologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Severe water shortage

In Everett, a NOAA rain gauge recorded less than 5 inches total from May through September. During the same window in 2014, Everett got more than 7 inches. Rainfall was at or above 10 inches for those months each year from 2010 to 2013.

In May, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought.

The drought strained the supply of water and increased demand. Farmers with irrigation systems paid high prices for workers, maintenance, fuel and water weeks earlier than usual. Those without irrigation risked losing large portions of their harvest.

“June felt like August,” Bumbaco said. “It was a pretty common thing to hear that we were two months ahead.”

Farming is a $139.5 million industry in Snohomish County. There are more than 1,400 farms, according to the 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture Census, a report done every five years. Farmland covers nearly 71,000 acres of the county. Most of the farms are small, with fewer than 50 acres.

Common crops are hay, corn, vegetables and wheat. Much of the livestock is beef cattle or dairy cows.

This spring and summer, grazing pastures dried up quickly, requiring farmers to tap into their winter hay supply, said Linda Neunzig, the county’s agricultural coordinator.

As for crops, some did better than others, she said. Peppers and tomatoes thrive in heat. Grasses and greens can be devastated by it.

Consequences for crops

The heat was hardest on hay.

A dry spring isn’t necessarily a bad thing, said hay farmer Andrew Albert, who farms 90 acres and leases out 900 more along Highway 530 in Arlington. Sunshine in May means more time to plant. Then June brings a few good rains to spur seed growth.

Except the rain didn’t come in June.

“I wouldn’t call this year a catastrophe because some crops do favor the heat,” Albert, 32, said. “But for grass, it was a disaster.”

In 2014, he produced 43,000 bales of hay. This year he used 10 percent more acreage but came out with 36,000 bales, a 16 percent drop.

He has a portable, diesel-powered irrigation system but is able to use it on less than half of his land due to limited water and equipment access. The irrigated fields yielded a decent crop but it took more water than Albert ever has used before. He measures irrigated water as though it were rain on his fields, in inches. He normally uses the equivilant of about 4 inches of rain in the hottest parts of the summer. This year, he used between 6 and 8 inches, depending on the location and equipment.

On fields without irrigation, the first cutting of hay was OK and the second yielded a 40 percent loss.

“Our third cutting, well, we didn’t get one,” Albert said. “It was non-existent.”

Farmer Mark Craven’s pumpkins fared better. They’re a hearty crop and a seasonal highlight in the Snohomish River Valley. Craven, 57, grows pumpkins, gourds, corn and squash on nearly 100 acres.

He’s usually the farmer with extra produce to share. But his gourds, mini pumpkins and squash didn’t weather the drought as well as the pumpkins. Craven had to rely on neighboring farms this year.

“We help each other out if we need it,” he said.

Tough decisions ahead

If this spring is as dry and hot as the last, Craven is looking at investing tens of thousands of dollars in a new irrigation system.

“If we have to, we have to,” he said. “That’s farming.”

Albert wants to buy a more fuel-efficient system with lines that can carry more water to his fields.

Miller expects he’ll need to purchase irrigation equipment and pay more workers to keep up his organic greens farm in the coming years.

It’s a delicate balancing act, the farmers said. They need to make smart investments that get them a return on the money they put into their businesses.

The cost of equipment, paired with rising prices of fuel, water and labor, leave farmers with difficult decisions about whether to irrigate more or try to weather the dry years without the extra water. Putting in an irrigation system can cost upwards of $100,000.

Decisions come down to how farmers look at the future and whether they think this year is a loner or a harbinger.

“I hope it’s not the new normal,” Craven said.

Questions

Farmers are a practical, determined bunch.

For them, the drought sparked more questions than concerns.

They wonder if it’s time to look at growing different crops, or a wider variety. They’re considering drought- or pest-resistant plants. The schedule for planting and harvesting may have to be moved to accommodate changing weather patterns.

“As farmers, we need to know, will next year be as bad as this year?” said Neunzig, the county’s agricultural coordinator. “We’re being told to prepare for severe weather events. What does that mean for our fields and our livestock?”

The rain is back, and this winter is likely to be a stormy one. Climatologists and hydrologists don’t expect there to be a shortage of precipitation in coming months.

But the 2015 planting and harvesting seasons got people thinking about how they should prepare for droughts, Neunzig said. That’s not easy to do with something as fickle as nature. No one has a crystal ball to see what the weather will be in 10 years. Even next year is a stretch.

Farmers tend to look at trends because it shapes their plans, including what, where and when to plant.

“These aren’t the solutions,” Neunzig said. “These are the questions.”

The future

Early forecasts predict high temperatures again this winter, but likely not as bad as 2014, said Bumbaco. The amount of precipitation should be average or above, but how much comes down as snow versus rain remains to be seen.

It is too soon to tell how hot or dry the spring might be, she said.

“Is it going to be as bad?” she said. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

A strong El Nino weather pattern is moving in, said Bower, of NOAA. El Nino years tend to be warm and dry.

“We may get less snow than normal, but we get such an abundance of rain that it will fill the groundwater. The creeks and rivers will flow,” Bower said. “We get so much rain that it’s likely to reset everything here over the winter.”

He thinks there’s “almost no chance it will be as bad as this last year.”

However, 2015 might be a glimpse of what’s to come in the next few decades. A lot of winter precipitation mixed with higher temperatures and drier springs is the trend climatologists are tracking for Western Washington, Bumbaco said.

“It’s certainly a look at what we would expect in the future with the changing climate,” she said.

As usual, Snohomish County farmers stand ready to adapt, whether they’re faced with storms or sunshine, broken equipment or bumper crops.

Albert is confident in his industry’s ability to weather droughts. If it was too wet a year, the crops could have been ruined, too. The way he sees it, you just have to roll with what the weather brings.

“If you get all stressed out and worried about it, you can’t be a farmer,” Albert said. “Farmers are hopeless optimists.”

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Focus on Farming conference

Snohomish County is hosting the 12th annual Focus on Farming conference Thursday at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe. The theme of the day-long event is “Planting Our Future.”

Experts plan to share information with local farmers in 24 workshops. Weather and forecasting for farmers is the subject of a lunchtime panel.

Registration opens at 7 a.m. and the event ends at 7 p.m. For more information, contact Linda Neunzig at 425-388-7170 or email lindaneunzig@snoco.org. Registration and schedule are online at focusonfarming.org.

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