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In agriculture, especially growing fruit and vegetables, margins have long been tight, with labor costs and drought causing headaches. But now supply chain issues and the war in Eastern Europe have driven fuel and fertilizer prices way up. And farmers are having to make tough choices.
DOÑA ANA COUNTY, New Mexico One man s inconvenience is another man s blessing. We love the rain!” said Greg Daviet, the farm manager of Dixie Ranch in Dona Ana County. “Growing the world’s food supply requires a lot of water.
For every quarter inch of rain that falls, Daviet told ABC-7 he will save $1,000 in irrigation costs. He said an inch of rain will bring $1 million in economic benefit to the entire region.
“Last year’s monsoon would be better called a non-soon, he joked. We really didn’t have any rainfall!”
Dixie Ranch has 10,000 pecan trees that produce a half-million pecans annually. Because farmers in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District are allotted only one irrigation this season, Daviet said the early rain brings him hope.
More: New Mexico top pecan producer in U.S., despite early fall freeze; Georgia rebuilds crop
New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte said the 2019 Agriculture Statistics Bulletin showed the industry’s continued economic impact and benefit to the state and its ability to evolve with changes in weather including a year of devastating drought and an unseasonably cold fall which saw a mid-October freeze that affected both of New Mexico’s top crops.
The state was led in production of pecans and chile in Doña Ana County, which also led in cotton production and total crop cash receipts.