Harvests likely to cost more this year 

By TY BEAVER 

H&N Staff Reporter

August 24, 2010

   Many potato growers had to grow their crops in unfamiliar ground or rely on groundwater for irrigation.

   “It’s pushed us to outside the fringes of the (Klamath Reclamation) Project,” said Bair, who has land around Henley.

   Irrigators on the Klamath Reclamation Project are expected to receive about 185,000 acre-feet of water this year, less than half of typical allocations.

   The shortage comes from Upper Klamath Lake being at historic low levels early in the spring.

   Luther Horsley said his wheat crop and other grain crops around the Basin look good.

   Bair and Brian Charlton, assistant professor of cropping systems at Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, said many growers are renting land outside the Project, from Bonanza to Alturas and Fall River in California.     

   Some of that land hasn’t grown potatoes in 15 years, and a lack of familiarity with soil conditions and other factors creates a level of uncertainty.

   Planting farther away also adds costs, from any additional needs in preparing the ground to getting the harvest to storage facilities at a grower’s main base of operation.

   Irrigation water is scheduled to be cut off in early September, weeks ahead of the normal cutoff in October.

   Charlton and Bair said nearly all the acreage with potatoes should still be able to get water from groundwater wells, but that means growers will need to spend more on pumping costs.

   “They’ll need it clear into mid-September,” Charlton said.

   Not enough water isn’t the only hurdle.

   Chanda Engel, assistant professor of livestock and forage with Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, said the cool spring stunted the region’s alfalfa.

   “We just got the second cutting up in the barn and that usually happens in July,” she said.

   Charlton said spring conditions also favored certain potato pests, giving growers something to wrestle with.

   Despite the season’s challenges, Bair said, growers should be able to bring in a good potato crop along with the variety of other produce from the region.

   “At the end of the day, I think we’ll be all right,” he said.