Last month, Willamette Valley temperatures made it to 105°F (40.5°C) with 108°F (42°C) reported in some locations on the east side and southern Oregon. Picking schedules were heavily impacted and fruit quality was down. It’s the worst kind of feeling when the first thing out of a grower’s mouth is “I lost one pick of crop x” or “I doubt I’ll be harvesting this field at all now”. Overhead cooling methods did help to some extent compared to those that didn’t have this option and I’m so thankful that lots of the crop had already been harvested before this heat event. Still, it’s cringe-worthy seeing remaining berries with heat related injury and, in past years, we haven’t been so lucky.
It’s times when high temperature records are being broken yet again that we all think about what we would do in a perfect world. Plenty of advances in heat mitigation have been implemented in other regions and we need to think long and hard about what it would take to move forward with these same techniques on the westside of the Pacific Northwest.
After looking into some federal cost sharing program options (think NRCS) it came to my attention that there are none for heat mitigation in specialty crops. While basic water saving irrigation programs exist, no misting systems or shade cloth type investments are in place at this time. In order to have programs like these considered in this region, growers must petition to request formal consideration for this need.
So, in a perfect world, would this interest you? If so, there are three questions related to location and contact information that would help with the petition process. Please chime in by submitting that information here.
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