CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Scott Robins used a tractor to work on the crops at Felicia’s Farm, he realized a lot of them have been growing slower this year. That’s because he said the lack of monsoon rain has had an effect on them.
“They grow faster with rainwater. It supercharges it,” Robins said.
He’s the supervisor at the farm and said this year they’ve already grown 16,000 pounds of crops because they recently expanded. Last year overall, he said, they grew 10,000 pounds.
“If we were doing about the same amount as last year, we wouldn’t have had as much, no. We had to expand it to get more,” Robins said.
Their zucchini and squash, he said, have been affected the most. With less rain, it means Robins and the team have not been able to rely as much on using the water they store in a big tank.
“We’ve had to supplement with a lot of water, with our own resources, which is expensive,” he said.
Using groundwater and tap water, he said, can also put too many minerals on their crops.
“It’s almost like a salt so it’ll start burning the roots. So it’s better to have…you have to have rain in there in between just to kind of rinse down the minerals and dissolve everything,” Robins said.
This year, the National Weather Service said it is the third driest monsoon since 1895 with only 1.94 inches of rain so far at the Tucson International Airport. The average every year, they said, is 5.69 inches.
“When droughts, they’ll bring in insects because they need water too and they’ll come congregate on your plants,” Robins said.
June, July, And August up to this point, the NWS said, have all seen less rain compared to last year.
As he looked at a spot that was much drier compared to the rest of the field, he realized there was more work to be done to make sure the crops retained their moisture.
“It’s essential. You have to have it. Rain is important,” Robins sad.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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