(C) El Paso Matters.org This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Farmers in El Paso area cope with hotter weather, drier days [1] ['Priscilla Totiyapungprasert', 'More Priscilla Totiyapungprasert', 'El Paso Matters', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width'] Date: 2024-06-27 CLINT, Texas – When pecan farmer Guadalupe Ramirez glanced up at the overcast skies last Friday morning, he felt a sense of relief. The drizzle that came wasn’t much, he said, not like the burst of rainfall parts of El Paso received earlier that week. But still, he welcomed the light sprinkle of rain and cooler temperatures – a break, finally, from the relentless stretch of dry, 100-plus degree weather. “The skies were gray, but not gray in sadness,” Ramirez said. “I thought ‘Oh, this is nice. It’s going to be a nice day.’” Ramirez was flood irrigating his trees at Ramirez Pecan Farm that morning. The family-run farm, located in the small town of Clint east of the El Paso city limits, has 300 trees whose fruit are small and green in the summer. As the pecans ripen, the husks will turn brown and crack open, ready for harvest in late fall and winter. But if the trees don’t get enough water, the pecans drop too early. Last summer’s brutal, record-breaking heat could even affect the quality of this year’s pecans if the orchard doesn’t experience a decent monsoon season, Ramirez said. El Paso is already on track to have a summer that’s hotter than historical average. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its plant hardiness zone map based on decades of temperature data. El Paso shifted half a zone up because of warmer winters. New pecans, tiny and green, appear in the foliage of trees at Ramirez Pecan Farm, June 21, 2024. Co-owner Lupe Ramirez says that o save resources, a tree stressed by heat and drought may drop its pecans early, leaving him with a far-reduced crop. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) As climate change and human activities cause higher temperatures, longer heat waves and lower water levels, local farmers have no choice but to adapt if they want to keep their crops alive. Longer stretches of hotter days “not a one-time deal” About 9 miles north of Ramirez Pecan Farm, the Loya family also received a sprinkle – not the amount of rain they wanted. Ralph and Marty Loya manage Growing with Sara Farms in Socorro, selling fruit and vegetables from their farm store Bodega Loya, as well as through Desert Spoon Food Hub in El Paso. Their farm has lost a couple rows of squash already. Workers will have to replant the lost crops, which requires more seed and compost, Marty said. This June, workers had to harvest crops more quickly because the food can’t sit out in the sun, Marty said. Some food will dry out. Other foods, such as okra, grow bigger and harder. Timing is more critical than ever. Ralph Loya finds ripe tomato on the vine at Growing With Sara farm, where he employs growing practices he learned from his father and grandfather. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) It’s not just the timing of harvest. The timing of planting has also affected some crops, said Raymond Flores, farm assistant at La Semilla Food Center in Anthony, New Mexico, just west of El Paso. Last year the first crop of corn planted in early spring didn’t do well, he said. The area experienced a streak of more than five consecutive weeks of triple-digit temperatures in June and July. Prolonged heat stress sterilized the pollen and affected the flowers, which couldn’t produce much corn. The second planting around the end of May fared better, Flores said. The extreme heat wave had begun to subside by the time the corn stalks began flowering. Tomato fertility is also particularly sensitive to the heat, he added. Last year’s tomato harvest came later than usual because the plants couldn’t produce until it cooled down. Workers use shade covers for the tomatoes. Farmers in general are resilient and have already made changes because of the ongoing drought,” said Tony Marmolejo, operations development manager at Desert Spoon Food Hub. But the duration of last year’s high temperatures caught people off guard. “When we got hit with the heat wave last year, everyone knew it wasn’t a one-time deal,” Marmolejo said. “Local farmers started making adjustments before this one came about.” A basket of locally-grown carrots at Desert Spoon Food Hub on May 31, 2023. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) Marmolejo coordinates with suppliers, mostly organic farms in El Paso and New Mexico, to place orders based on what they have available. Desert Spoon Food Hub would usually get baby carrots around this time from a farm in Vado, New Mexico. But the carrots came earlier in the year and for a shorter time, Marmolejo said. So far, he’s seen less tomatoes and asparagus coming in. The squash and peaches aren’t coming in as early either. “Not everybody got rain,” Marmolejo said of the recent break in weather patterns. “They have to use more water because there’s less moisture in the air, less moisture in the soil. But there’s less water supply, so it’s a no-win situation here.” The El Paso area normally receives an inch of rain from May through June, but has only received 0.07 inches in the past two months, according to National Weather Service data. Dwindling water supply also a concern While most of the Ramirez farm is dedicated to pecan trees, it also grows alfalfa for livestock. But Ramirez said they stopped planting alfalfa in the last couple years because they need to save all the water for the pecan trees. A grackle flies through an irrigated orchard at Ramirez Pecan Farm, June 21, 2024. The water that floods the orchards attracts animals in the summer heat. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) To plan ahead, workers trim down the trees in the winter so, come summer, there’s less branches to hydrate. It’s a balancing act of quantity and quality. When water is limited, Ramirez has to be efficient if he wants his trees to produce quality pecans. Ramirez waters his trees through flood irrigation every two to three weeks. Letting the soil get too dry and start cracking will stress the roots and make it difficult to retain moisture, he said. Older trees have deeper roots that can tap into the underground water basin, but if it’s a dry year, the water basin level also goes down. If he receives less water from his allotment, he reduces irrigation to just enough to keep the trees alive, but that’s not enough to have the healthiest trees, he said. His water allotment fluctuates depending on water levels at Elephant Butte reservoir in New Mexico. The reservoir feeds the Rio Grande canal system from which he and other El Paso farmers draw their water. Lupe Ramirez, co-owner and manager of Ramirez Pecan Farm, shows the size difference between what he says is an average-sized pecan leaf and a leaf whose growth is stunted by heat and drought, June 21, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) Rain helps in ways beyond water conservation. Rainwater has a different profile of nutrients, which includes nitrates, a form of nitrogen, Ramirez explained. The rain also knocks down pests such as aphids from the leaves, he added. “Maybe it’s wishful thinking,” Ramirez said. “I’m hoping for a good wet season, but climate is changing.” Monsoon, when the region normally receives the majority of its rainfall, runs from June 15 to Sept. 30. Last year, El Paso received 4 inches of rain, below its historic annual average of 9 inches. Farmers plan for the future Ralph Loya has had to water his crops more than usual this past month, using flood irrigation with canal water for the fruit trees and drip irrigation with municipal water for the vegetables. Like Ramirez, he also depends on his allotment from the Rio Grande – a river that’s been a source of irrigation for centuries, but has been choked by increasing development. His wife, Marty, said they’re considering putting more shade structures on their produce fields as well as a new cover on their greenhouse next year. The shade creates cooler temperatures, which help the soil retain moisture. Ramirez said he has a shallow well and has thought about installing a deeper well. But wells come with a hefty price tag and don’t address tightening water restrictions, he said. Lupe Ramirez, co-owner and manager of Ramirez Pecan Farm, poses for a portrait in front of his farm store, where he sells homemade pecan candies and baked goods and raw, unshelled pecans, June 21, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) If drought and extreme heat waves continue, small farms with less capital and access to resources could get pushed out of the industry, Flores said. “The best time to take action against climate change is as soon as possible, but there’s only so much we can do,” Flores said. “It’s a giant system. It’s going to take the collective effort of everyone to change.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2024/06/27/el-paso-farms-weather-heat-drought-climate-change/ Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/