Uncertain water, weather met by resolve, smarts   

Klamath Falls Herald and News

Editorial

November 11, 2010

   Farming successfully in a 4,000-foot-elevation Basin with uncertain water, and selling to markets that can be half a world away takes a lot of determination and smarts.

   And even then, success is not a sure thing when the weather turns the wrong way or legal conflicts ensnare irrigators.

   The ability to deal with those things is why we admire the Klamath Basin farmers. Sure, they’re embroiled in a nasty fight about the future of Klamath River dams and other issues related to water and they’re not all on the same side.

   Unfortunately, such things are part of farming in the Klamath Basin, though we hope the time will come when they’re not.  

   Tough season the norm

   The 2010 growing season was tough for them.

   As has become the norm, there wasn’t enough water to meet all of the demands. In addition, the weather was weird — often what happened was not what history suggested should happen.

   The legal battles and unsure water supplies have thrown uncertainty over just about every other element of farming which, along with ranching, normally produces about $300 million in revenue and becomes twice that as it circulates though the Klamath County economy.  

   Klamath Basin farmers and packers have become adept, especially since the 2001 cutoff of water to the Klamath Reclamation Project, at dealing with the uncertainties of Klamath Basin farming. They’ve had to, in order to survive.

   They have had to look for new crops, especially those that need less water. They’ve had to seek land to plant in areas less affected by water curtailment, including land outside the Klamath Basin.

   They also go far afield for markets — South Korea, in the case of Gold Dust Potato Processors located near Malin. It’s been doing business with a South Korean company since 2005.  

   How farmers make it

   In one of a package of stories in Sunday’s newspaper, Donnie Heaton, a Merrill farmer, talked about visiting his fields in Newell, Bonanza, Sprague River and, Medford — yes, that Medford, the one on the other side of the mountains that requires a 190-mile round trip added to his 110-mile trips to check the fields on this side of the mountains.

   He monitored his Medford field much of the time from his home with a remote moisture sensor gauge.

   Rob Unruh, a Malin farmer who had to let the fields at his home stay unplanted and farm elsewhere, said, “Last year, we got to choose the ground. This year, we   were chasing water.”

   As we said, a tough year. But as we also said, we admire these farmers and their ability to switch crops, locations and just about anything else to make things work.