Date farmers doing okay during drought
Some date farmers have had to adapt to using less water for their trees.
Dates are one of the biggest cash crops for area with dozens of date farms in the eastern parts of the Coachella Valley.
“The drought is definitely making a little bit of an effect but the valley is prepared for droughts in the past and we’re weathering this non-storm pretty well,” said Charles Anderson, his family has been growing dates at Fresh Dates by Anderson in Thermal since 1919.
Some farmers in the valley changed from flood irrigation to drip irrigation to conserve water.
Which may have actually helped them have a better date harvest this year.
“The yields have increased because you are getting more water uniformity and you are getting better usage of the water then if you span water all over the field,” said Spencer Bray a local farmer in Mecca.
Farmers are keeping there eyes to the sky hoping to get rain and that could come from El Nino, but it has to come at just the right time as to not ruin the crops already on the trees.
“It depends on when it is, if it happened tomorrow it would be a bad thing, but if it happened in December or January we would more than welcome that,” said Anderson.
Even if we get a lot of rain from El Nino there’s a good chance it wouldn’t break the drought completely, and farmers will have to find more ways to cut back.
“Farmers here strive to protect the environment and preserve what we have,” said Bray.
The majority of the dates in our area are being harvested now and throughout the fall.
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