{"id":359,"date":"2026-06-03T04:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=359"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:08:20","slug":"boulder-county-farmers-scale-back-crops-csas-and-staffing-as-drought-reshapes-the-growing-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=359","title":{"rendered":"Boulder County farmers scale back crops, CSAs and staffing as drought reshapes the growing season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After one of Colorado\u2019s driest winters on record, Boulder County farmers spent months preparing for what many feared would be a devastating growing season. Recent rains have brought some relief, but much of the region remains in severe drought, and many local growers say the moisture came too late to fundamentally change their plans for the summer.<\/p>\n

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Across Boulder County, farms are shrinking CSA programs, cutting staff, reducing acreage and shifting toward crops that require less water. Farmers say shoppers will still find local produce at markets this summer, but less of it \u2014 and with fewer of the water-intensive staples that usually define the height of the growing season.<\/p>\n

At the Boulder County Farmers Markets, Executive Director Mackenzie Sehlke said shoppers may notice a different kind of abundance this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say, \u2018Stack \u2019em high and watch \u2019em fly\u2019 in the farmers market industry \u2014 those big, bountiful fruit and vegetable displays,\u201d she said. \u201cIt might look a little bit leaner this year, but we will know that what is there is gonna be even more precious.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Black Cat Farm, chef and owner Eric Skokan said the operation began triaging crops months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a series of scenarios based on what the weather would look like, best case to worst case, and each month I would revise it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe best-case scenarios became worse and worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to look bleak,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s so bad that it\u2019s made it really easy, mentally, to scale back the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Cat farms 500 acres, including about 100 acres of food crops. This year, Skokan said, the farm scaled back row crops to just a few acres while focusing on crops that can survive on far less water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Black Cat has relatively strong senior water rights, Skokan said the issue is not legal access to water but the lack of water itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere just isn\u2019t any water,\u201d Skokan said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that divvying up the pie is the unfair part of it. It\u2019s that the pie is minuscule this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water that would normally last through October will likely run out by June or July, he said, leaving later-season crops especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n

As a result, there will likely still be spring vegetables \u2014 peas, asparagus and fast-ripening radishes \u2014 but less zucchini, corn and winter squash. Fields that would normally grow baby fennel, spinach and other produce are instead being planted with garbanzo beans and lentils.<\/p>\n

Because of the drought, he\u2019s also using drip tape, which he usually avoids because it\u2019s nonrecyclable plastic, to water fields more efficiently. Workers are using propane torches to burn weeds above ground rather than tilling them under, which releases soil moisture into the air.<\/p>\n

Black Cat has canceled the farm\u2019s CSA program this year, closed the farm store and scaled back its footprint at the Boulder and Longmont Saturday farmers markets from 40-foot booths to 10-foot booths.<\/p>\n

The farm was fortunate, Skokan said, that last year\u2019s wheat harvest was \u201cspectacular\u201d and that it produced a bumper crop of tomatoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the farmers market, we\u2019re serving lots of focaccia with tomato,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re really fortunate relative to some of the other farms in that we\u2019ve been diversified for a long time in terms of income streams and the crop mix that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Boulder Market Meals: Bok choy and local mushrooms star in a savory summer stir-fry<\/a><\/p>\n

The farm\u2019s restaurant and on-farm dinners have become the priority because they employ the most people, Skokan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the part that makes me have knots in my stomach, is not having water to grow vegetables and having to reduce the staff that we have at the farm,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are families who\u2019ve counted on us for years, and unfortunately all of this is very much out of our control.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Switch Gears Farm in Longmont, Vanita Patel said she and her farming partner, Brett Matson, had hoped to grow 2.5 acres of produce this year, plus another acre or acre-and-a-half of cover crops.<\/p>\n

Now, she expects the farm will grow about an acre of produce through July and then a quarter-acre to finish out the season.<\/p>\n

The farm relies on junior water rights and lacks a large enough pond to store ditch water.<\/p>\n

In a typical year, Patel said, the farm would expect four opportunities to flood-irrigate fields. This year, she expects just one and plans to purchase water from another shareholder to secure a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery farmer is going to be forced to make a lot of adjustments,\u201d Patel said. <\/p>\n

Switch Gears has reduced its CSA offerings from 70 shares to 40 and scaled back hiring plans from several workers to potentially none.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patel said crop plans now shift constantly depending on rainfall forecasts and water availability. The farm expects to grow more greens and lettuces and fewer water-intensive crops such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have limited amounts of those highly seasonal things,\u201d she said. \u201cSweet potatoes and potatoes are one of those things where we\u2019re trying to see if there\u2019s anything we can do to put them back in the rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patel and others said this is also a good year for people to try growing some food at home, even if it\u2019s just a small bed of carrots, herbs or perennials.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrett and I, this whole winter, have been talking about victory gardens,\u201d she said. \u201cSupport farmers when we can, grow some of the stuff that we know we need for staples, so if our supply chain gets disrupted, you still have some basics covered in your home or community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Beyond the financial impact, Skokan said community support matters emotionally for farmers enduring a difficult season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the community participate and purchase what they are able to, it doesn\u2019t necessarily solve all of the financial problems that come in a catastrophic year like this,\u201d he said. \u201cBut on a personal level, or a community level, it is absolutely felt by the farmers to know that they\u2019re loved and cared for and valued.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Wanburg of the Lafayette Colorado Farmers Market said this is a year for residents to think of local food markets as relationships, not just transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re building something that can allow farmers to withstand these ebbs and flows,\u201d Wanburg said. \u201cRelationships can weather storms, whereas impersonal transactions cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Federal judge blocks Trump administration\u2019s first move to break up Boulder-based NCAR<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent rains brought some relief, but many growers say extreme drought has already forced cuts to acreage, staffing and water-intensive crops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water"],"yoast_head":"\nBoulder County farmers scale back crops, CSAs and staffing as drought reshapes the growing season - Boulder Moving Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=359\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boulder County farmers scale back crops, CSAs and staffing as drought reshapes the growing season - 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