Central Valley agriculture thrives as farmers innovate to meet rising costs, climate demands

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — With the Trump Administrations’ tariff plan, how will that impact Central Valley Farmers and agriculture? Many worry but farmers say they aren’t too worried despite the recent tariffs.

Eyewitness News went to the Haggin Oak’s Farmers Market last Sunday and talked with farmers about their plans for the upcoming summer season and the hotter temperatures.

“We are grateful to be able to get the produce to the people, to our community,” said H&A Farm Manager, Emmanuel Rangel.

As if Central Valley Farmers don’t have enough on their plate, the community may have concerns about agriculture, but if anything, farmers encourage buying and supporting local farms for their produce.

“For us, we live in the Central Valley,” explained Haggin Oak’s Farmers Market Marketing Manager, Jaclyn Allen. “It’s really nice to see us actually eating the things that are produced here at home. A lot of times that produce is driven to the bigger cities that are outside of the Central Valley. And I think in general, just us as Central Valley people, we take a lot of pride in our agriculture. So, showcasing that locally is just a really big, big deal for us in general.”

With hot temperatures on the rise, Trail’s End Farm suffered setbacks to their production last year because of the heat. Their owner already has a plan in place to save her produce.

“We do a lot of cover cropping, a lot of mulching,” said Trail’s End Farm LLC owner, Kaitlin Whelan. “We do specifically drip irrigation. We don’t do any overhead wastewater. With fire season coming up, we try to maintain a lot, or trying to implement more water storage, and also, like an alternative way to pump water, in case power were to go off like it did last year.”

But even so, her table sells out of her items quickly. Just like the Farmers from H&A in Santa Maria. They understand what is going on in the world, but they are committed to the Haggin Oak’s Farmers Market each week.

“Well, it does get difficult sometimes, but we managed to do it anyway, because we love what we do and then as far as the heat over here in the farmers’ market, we’re just used to it,” said H&A’s Emmanuel Rangel. “We’ve been doing this for 15-20 years, so it’s not a problem for us. We’re just happy to have the produce for the community.”

Eyewitness News spoke with an expert last week who says farmers will potentially have to raise costs with locals needing to depend on their products.