Farmers in Southwest Colorado are harvesting crops after a challenging growing season marked by low snowpack, unusual spring heat, freezing temperatures and sharply limited irrigation water.
For some growers, the clearest sign of stress is not a failed harvest. It is a shorter season with less room for error.
At Mountain Roots Produce in Mancos, farmer Mike Nolan said the year began unlike any he remembers in more than two decades of farming.
“This is my 22nd season doing this. Probably the weirdest one I’ve experienced,” Nolan said.
A stretch of exceptional heat settled over Colorado in March, setting off a chain of weather problems that would last through spring. The National Weather Service said the warmth rapidly depleted already record-low snowpack across the state. In Mancos, temperatures reached the 80s several times late in the month, including 85 degrees on March 21st.
Nolan said the early warmth pushed trees and other perennial plants out of dormancy. Then temperatures reversed course.
Mancos experienced about a week of freezing nights in April, including a low around 17 degrees on April 18th.
That was followed by a dry, windy spring and growing concern about irrigation supply while mountaintop snowpack rapidly melted away.
Dolores Water Conservancy District General Manager Ken Curtis told KSJD that runoff was among the worst on record. Full-service Dolores Project irrigation supplies were about 14% of a full supply, while Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company was operating at roughly 55%.
Montezuma County CSU Extension Director Emily Lockard said high temperatures compound water shortages because plants need more moisture to produce fruit while less is available.
“A little bit of rain here and there is great, but you need to have reliable water to really produce a good quality product,” Lockard said.
Summer monsoon rainfall has also varied substantially across Montezuma County. Nolan said Mountain Roots landed in what he described as a rain “donut hole,” receiving less precipitation than some nearby areas.
Despite that, Nolan said production at Mountain Roots has not necessarily collapsed. Instead, he and his partner planned for scarcity.
Nolan estimates that Mountain Roots planted roughly a third less than it would in a typical year. The farm also reduced the volume of some crops, and avoided those that use more water. As a result, it narrowed the selection it offered to customers.
“We weren’t having a whole greenhouse of cucumbers,” Nolan said. “We had one bed in a greenhouse of cucumbers.”
Production costs have created another pressure. Nolan said seeds, shipping, plastic and potting soil have all become more expensive in recent years. Mountain Roots has raised some prices while trying to remain affordable for customers.
Now, Nolan said the farm already looks and feels closer to how it typically does in late September than in August.
“Everything is just stressed and confused,” he said. “Things are really actively figuring out, how do I shut down?”
Nolan said Mountain Roots would normally be moving into its season of high production. Instead, there is a little less to bring to market each week.
For now, he is not thinking much about next year.
The goal is to get through this growing season and reach the cooler weather of fall.
