YUBA CITY (Courtesy of KMJ's News Partner – CBS 13 Sacramento) — First the drought – but now valley farmers are now fighting yet another battle – the heat.
Central Valley almond farmer Joe Waltz says he's no stranger to difficult conditions.
He says the drought has been one of the bigger challenges for his family run farm. Since the start of the year they've been dealing with unseasonably warm temperatures in what should be the cold months.
“I mean great to work in but not for the crops,” he said.
Crops like prunes – apricots – and almonds need cold temperatures to strengthen their trees and produce the best results.
“If it’s not strong enough to keep the number of nuts that are bloomed and pollinated, then it will just drop them off the tree,” he said.
“And you’ll end up with less of them out there or they can be smaller in size.”
He says there's still enough time for the crops to recover.
“All we can do is sit back and hope we catch up on our hours, and hope we catch up. All we can do is rely on Mother Nature we have no control over it,” he said.
