NW farmers brace for low water year

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 30, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>NW farmers brace for low water year</h1>
                <h2><p>Blame drought and a truly shallow snowpack, says KPLU's Anna King. "Some farmers in the Yakima Valley will get just 60 percent of their normal water. They’re facing questions like: Let the hay field and veggies go fallow to save the cherry trees? Buy expensive water</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Blame drought and a truly shallow snowpack, <a href="http://kplu.org/post/northwest-farmers-prepare-short-water-year?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">says KPLU's Anna King</a>. "Some farmers in the Yakima Valley will get just 60 percent of their normal water. They’re facing questions like: Let the hay field and veggies go fallow to save the cherry trees? Buy expensive water from a neighbor? Or maybe switch to costly drip irrigation?" No good answers here. Farmers are hoping state lawmakers will grant a request for $9 million in drought relief.</p>
          </article>

Blame drought and a truly shallow snowpack, says KPLU's Anna King. "Some farmers in the Yakima Valley will get just 60 percent of their normal water. They’re facing questions like: Let the hay field and veggies go fallow to save the cherry trees? Buy expensive water from a neighbor? Or maybe switch to costly drip irrigation?" No good answers here. Farmers are hoping state lawmakers will grant a request for $9 million in drought relief.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,