Local farmer explains heavy rain impacts on crops
ROYAL OAKS, CALIF. (KION-TV)- JSM Organics Owner Javier Zamora says there are good and bad when it comes to the rain and his farm.
“I would say in different ways it's beneficial, but it's also it's it's keeping us away from doing our routine work, which is plant and probably sugars, snap peas, and English peas and that sort of thing,” Zamora said. “And finishing up the strawberry planting as well. So, you know, it just set us back a couple of weeks.”
He also explained how such a large amount of rain could affect the plants.
“When it comes in, you know, large amounts in such a short period of time, what happens is it is just because of the soil, it's all the dirt, as people call it, it's already saturated,” Zamora said. “So it actually creates issues like erosion and soil washes down the soil. So that normally kind of ruins the bed shape in that view created. And then it just washes down some of the plants as well. So we have to fix that later on when it stops.”
The huge amount of rain does more than setback when the plants are picked. The excess rain affects when people can come to work.
“Unfortunately, when, when, when our workforce, when it's raining, and we're not able to come out here and do the work, of course, they suffer because they're not earning money,” Zamora said.
Even with these negatives, Zamora doesn’t have a negative outlook on the rain.
“When we get a normal year of rain, it kind of is things, you know, it makes a little easier for us to farm and do what we what we enjoy doing, and we're what we're here to do, which is growing and producing food for our communities and our families and employing a lot of people in the community,” Zamora said.
“You know, four inches of rain in 12 hours. Yeah, it's a lot, but it's nothing that we should be complaining about or just, you know, be negative about it. It's that the benefits are incredibly good for farmers and for the community that will have some really good strawberries and veggies next season.”
Zamora also mentioned how they look to help the community during heavy rains. If sand falls from the neighboring mountains, they’ll use their equipment to clear the roads for people to reach their homes.
