By Whitton Feer – Center, Colorado Facing depleted aquifers and a population opposed to change, farmers in the San Luis Valley must innovate and adapt in order to remain on the frontline of potato production in the US. Rusty, a chocolate lab chased a potato through a dusty patch of Rockey Farms, retrieving it for…
By: Olivia Dicks Climate change affecting the predictability of snowfall, wind, and fires is substantially changing how farmers, workers, and the community live in western Colorado. Western Colorado includes thousands of acres of farmland due to its weather, topography, and elevation. Higher up in western Colorado, beautiful scenic views from the mountain side are increasing…
By Rachel Colchete The mountains near Salida, Colorado have never been a stranger to the occasional wildfire, but as the climate grows increasingly arid and people move closer to forest boundaries, these formerly inconsequential and easily-contained burns are becoming a threat to residents. Hundreds were forced to evacuate during the recent Decker Fire, spanning 8,959…
By: Olivia Dicks CENTER – People of Colorado’s San Luis Valley are conflicted and struggling with climate change that appears to be having both positive and negative effects on their lives. Climate change is negatively affecting much of our Earth, but it may be helping farmers in the San Luis Valley by letting them grow…
SALIDA – Jerry Mallett and Mike Rosso, two citizens of Salida who were evacuated in September from the Decker fire, said that they had never thought they may have to pack up and leave. Mallett and Rosso have been living in their separate mountain homes for nearly 20 years each, and while they say the…
By Rainy Adkins Farmers across the San Luis Valley who maintain fields with center-pivot sprinklers and sun-faded tractors wake up every morning with a view of blue mountains and a hard job, and they love it despite the consequences it might have on the environment. “Farming’s in their blood,” said Riley Kern, the fix-it-all technician…
By Rachel Colchete To farmers in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, potato farming is more than a way to sustain their lives, it is their way of life. But as a growing water crisis tightens its grasp around the valley, workers in the agriculture industry wrestle with how to stop the draining of their aquifers while…
By Rainy Adkins In the barren expanse of the windswept San Luis Valley bordered by snow-powdered blue peaks, groundwater water is a major source of concern for the farming community as the valley becomes more arid and crops continue to demand water. “There’s no way you’ll stay in business,” people have told Sheldon Rockey, 3rd…
By Lili Weir Potato farmers facing a shift to aridity in the San Luis Valley are turning to alternative agricultural practices to sustain themselves in a changing environment. “We’re committed to making it work,” Rio Grande Water Conservation District general manager Cleave Simpson said in a recent interview. A fourth generation farmer, Simpson said he…
By Auguste Voss SAN LUIS VALLEY—A sign along the main north-south road where drivers whiz through Colorado’s golden-brown San Luis Valley reflects rising political concerns about climate change impacts—which increasingly threaten the agriculture that remains the economic mainstay for people. “Our home needs our care,” the sign says, showing a blue-green planet earth. But farmers…
