Weather extremes triggered by the prolonged drought have caused much of the damage to crops in California\u2019s Central Valley in addition to lack of waters, says Doug Benik, a farmer and crop insurance agent from Fresno County.<\/p>\n
While most assume that the absence of rainfall is largely behind much of the crop damage and losses in California, much of it has actually been caused by the absence of any moisture in the air \u2013 due to a lack of rainfall \u2013 that has produced weather extremes the area rarely sees. \u201cThe lack of moisture in the air allows air temperatures to get much colder in the winter and much hotter in the summer,\u201d said Benik.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it prevents the cooling fogs from forming when many of the area\u2019s trees need those conditions during the winter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many farmers, the incredibly dry air is causing more damage than lack of water,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0 The drought, which is now in its third year, has forced many of the areas farmers, who grow all types of crops, to dig deeper wells in hopes of hitting more reliable water tables.<\/p>\n
Benik, a second-generation farmer, said that for most of his life, farming in this area was much less stressful.\u00a0 \u201cThis area of the Central Valley is an agricultural center because it is blessed with adequate water from a dependable rainy season in most years,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cAnd while we don\u2019t receive adequate rainfall during the summer to sustain crops and trees, much of the water we need comes from the snowpack in the mountains,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cUnfortunately, this year, that snowpack never materialized, and moisture over the previous two years was subpar as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benik says that luckily, most of the area\u2019s farmers have been purchasing crop insurance for years.\u00a0 \u201cCrop insurance has provided some peace of mind for many of our growers,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cSome growers will collect due to drought this year and that will save them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drought is now in its third year, and the area farmers are keeping their fingers crossed that normal rainfall patterns return soon.\u00a0 \u201cThis past year, some of the irrigation systems were denied water at the last minute, and that\u2019s something we\u2019ve never faced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But if rainfall doesn\u2019t return, Benik expects to see more deep wells go in this year to deal with it.\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, he says farmers will likely continue to purchase crop insurance to protect them from some, or part, of what Mother Nature has in store for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Weather extremes triggered by the prolonged drought have caused much of the damage to crops in California\u2019s Central Valley in addition to lack of waters, says Doug Benik, a farmer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":5693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-whats-cropping-up"],"yoast_head":"\n