Drought persists, requires adjustments and acceptance

"We know we're contending with Mother Nature every year," said Michael Hughes, a partner in Hughes Farm. That knowledge does not make farming any easier, especially when the river is low and the rains don't fall. This year's drought has produced mixed effects while forcing adjustments and acceptance. Skagit County has been in a state-declared drought since July 24. The county is also experiencing its sixth driest year to date, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. Farmers with junior water rights faced their earliest curtailment from pumping out of the Skagit River. Skagit PUD transferred water for agricultural use, and for the first time, charged for it.

"This year has been a year of extremes," said Vivian Larson, who operates Everyday Flowers and raises about three acres of flowers for wholesale markets.

Those extremes have brought a range of frustrations.

Potato plants showed early signs of stress. Based on experience, Hughes anticipates lower yields and smaller profiles, which are less desired in some markets.

When Drainage and Irrigation Improvement Districts 15 and 22 had to stop pumping water from the river in June, stress increased. "The people I am talking to were very stressed out in late June, early July," said Jenna Friebel, executive director of the Skagit Drainage and Irrigation District Consortium.

Many farmers saw the dry fall and groundwater situation over the winter and anticipated the drought, so the delay was particularly irritating. "Knowing that there's water there but we can't use it ... adds a whole lot of stress to everyone," Hughes said.

While conditions worsened, Friebel worked with Skagit PUD to prepare for a water transfer. Transfers do not require a declared drought, but that does expedite the process. Once the state declared the emergency, the transfer happened smoothly.

It helped, but, "Once the plants start having that drought stress, you're just trying to hold what's left," said Hughes. "It's already impacted yield."

Friebel and the farmers are looking ahead and hoping to find longer term solutions to a basic dilemma: demands exceed supply. Droughts make this obvious. Friebel hopes to reach an agreement with Skagit PUD for transfers in the future not dependent on drought declarations. She knows that a longer-term solution is required, because the PUD is not set up to provide irrigation water.

"We're looking for solutions that don't impact the fisheries," said Freibel. She hopes that studies from the Joint Legislative Task Force on Water Supply will pave the way for reliable solutions for agricultural water supplies.

The lack of rainfall has been a concern, but the season has had some benefits. "Fortunately, this year we didn't have the extreme heat we've had in the past," said Hughes. "That did help the plants because they didn't have to contend with as hot of temperatures." Also, dry conditions help keep diseases away.

Larson agreed, recalling the two heat dome events in 2021 that "just burned everything up." Dryness offers some advantages. "Constantly wet blossoms do not do well," she said.

Sam Bowhay and Linda Fenstermaker of First Cut Farm grow organic vegetables and faced the drought with mixed reactions. Last year's cold, damp spring meant everything was late, slowing cashflow and harming potatoes. By contrast, the dryness this year is good for their beans, which mold easily. Fortunately, First Cut Farm had access to water, but Bowhay and Fenstermaker worry about the water table's future. "We need the rain to come back soon," said Fenstermaker.

Usually, autumn rains soften the ground and cool it. Without that, according to Hughes, "the ground just stays hard, and you start damaging potatoes when you get to harvest."

Larson tries to maintain perspective. "I think there's always going to be something like the weather that changes something that we do. It's been that way forever, whether too much rain, too much heat, too much cold. ... There's no way we can control that." she said. "To worry about that is not something that I choose to do."