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DONNIE BOYD 46, owner, Floyd A. Boyd Co.

 

H&N photo by Ty Beaver   Donnie Boyd, owner of Floyd A. Boyd Co., talks about layoffs and cutbacks the business implemented to survive the 2010 drought

 

 

 

Drought survival came at a cost 

 

Impact trickled down to area businesses 

 

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Reporter

December 19, 2010

 

     Donnie Boyd says the 2010 irrigation season wasn’t quite as bad as he predicted. “I was preaching pretty heavy doom and gloom,” Boyd said from inside his new office, formerly occupied by his grandfather, at his company’s store in Merrill. The reason it wasn’t as bad was “because of the resourcefulness of American agriculture,” he said. Farmers moved their crops to marginal lands outside the Klamath Reclamation Project the use of groundwater wells was available. “They figured out how to make it work,” Boyd said. That survival, he believes, came at a cost.  

 

   Since farmers didn’t grow as much this year, Boyd’s business had fewer sales and there was less need for its services to fix broken equipment.

 

   “We’ve had to cut a few people out of our business and we don’t have any plans to hire them back,” he said.

 

   Boyd remains cautiously optimistic about next year. It could be a good year if the moisture that fell generously in November and early December is a winter-long trend and if commodity prices stay high.

 

   At the same time, he senses apprehension from irrigators. His business typically sees the purchase of a lot of materials and equipment right now as growers look to spend money before tax season.

 

   That’s not the case this year.

 

   “I personally think people are holding off,” Boyd said.  

 
 
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