Weathering the harvest 

Mother Nature’s untimely temperatures, storms haven’t helped Klamath Basin farmers this year 

By TY BEAVER 

H&N Staff Reporter

November 2, 2010

      TULELAKE — Scott Seus says Mother Nature hasn’t given the Klamath Basin a break this year.

   Along with drought, a cold and wet spring, a cool summer, and late warm temperatures, the last few weeks of rain and snow have made the tail end of the harvest difficult.

   “These untimely storms have definitely added a lot of cost to what we do,” Seus said.

   Agriculture in the Klamath Basin was hit hard this year when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released only 185,000 acre-feet of water to the Klamath Reclamation Project, less   snow pack and inflows to Upper Klamath Lake  than 50 percent of typical water supplies provided. Bureau officials say the shortage was due to below-average precipitation,     

   The shortage prevented a number of irrigators from fully using their land or growing crops at all this season.

   But the weather added insult to injury. It’s been either too cool or too wet, impacting crop yield and quality.

   “It’s never going to be 100 percent all the time,” Seus said of growing conditions.

   A number of farmers who managed to plant are still harvesting crops such as onions, potatoes and horseradish. The recent wet weather has strained harvesting equipment and schedules.  

   Joe Moreo, agricultural commissioner for Modoc County, said there were a few hundred acres of crops, including onions, planted in his county by Basin farmers in need of water. Despite   an overall lack of moisture this year, he said those growers are facing difficult harvesting conditions.

   “It rained at just the right time to gum things up,” he said.

Workers harvest horseradish northwest of Tulelake. The brown fields in the distance \were left fallow this year because of a water shortage.

   Seus said he finished harvesting onions this past weekend and is now working to get his horseradish out of the field. Unfortunately, recent moisture will make him and his crews work harder to pull out and clean the root crop.

   Despite the final parting shot from Mother Nature, Seus is optimistic.

   The weather this week should allow farmers to bring harvests in, he said, and the recent snow and rain means there may be more water available next season.