Farming on the Mother Road - 8

NEEDLES, Calif. (DTN) -- The Mohave Valley can feel like a blast furnace in the summer, though locals will tell you that any day under 108 Fahrenheit is mild. It's a dry heat, after all.

While the desert heat stands out, the valley has another obvious feature with the flowing blue waters of the Colorado River.

As the first stop in California along Route 66, Needles gets a bum rap as the place in "Grapes of Wrath" where the Joad family first heard the term "Okies" while swimming in the river. Californians didn't want migrant workers and in reality there were more migrants than farm jobs. Farther down Route 66, closer to Daggett, Calif., the empty agricultural inspection station still stands where state troopers would actually block migrant families from traveling farther into California if they didn't have any money or couldn't prove they had awaiting jobs.

Needles itself is a small town of about 4,000 people, but its surrounding area takes in a larger population as California, Arizona and Nevada all intersect in about a 25-mile radius. The Colorado River also provides the Mohave Valley area with a checkerboard of green blocks and crop circles stretching from Needles almost up to Laughlin, Nev.

It's in those patches of irrigated ground where the Fort Mojave Tribe has about 15,000 acres of farmland, most of which is operated by AVI KWA 'AME Farms. That's a private corporation started by the Mojave Tribe in the mid-1980s to better manage the tribe's ground and water rights along the valley.

The tribe's water rights amount to 132,700 acre feet annually from the Colorado River. The allocation stems from a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case and subsequent settlement over water rights between Arizona and California, explained John Algots, resource director for the tribe and a board member for AVI KWA 'AME Farms.

The tribe grows about 11,000 acres of cotton, alfalfa, small grains and grass seeds. Another 4,000 acres is leased to other area farmers. Crops demand a lot of water in the Mohave Valley. In general, the tribe uses 4 to 5 acre feet per year for cotton while alfalfa might use double that amount.

Cotton is the main cash crop, grown on about 4,500 acres and producing roughly 12,300 bales. The farm also has its own gin and marketing office for cotton.

"Cotton has traditionally been grown here," Algots said. "It's reasonably adaptable to this climate."

The arid nature of the desert makes it difficult to time hay baling. Often hay is cut, then it becomes difficult to bale because of the lack of moisture. Still, the tribe relies heavily on its hay production. Normally, the tribe delivers hay to about a 200-mile radius, but dairy farmers in the drought-stricken Central Valley have stretched hay deliveries as far as 350 miles.

"The Central Valley is kind of a disaster zone," said Algots. "They can't grow any hay over there, so they are going out farther to find hay wherever they can get it at whatever it costs. With the price of milk, they can afford to do that."

Farm manager Del Wakimoto was leasing ground from the tribe when he volunteered as a board member for the farm. He later was drafted to manage the operation. Wakimoto said the tribal council had the wisdom to separate the farm from the tribal operations.

Wakimoto also believes the tribe has developed over time one of the best, least-known farm-management programs in the business. "We started off on Palm Pilots," he said. "Remember those?"

The farm has six weather stations, two of which are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. The weather updates on the farm's own farm management system every 15 minutes.

A worker or manager can click on a field and it provides all the information needed about fertilizer use, irrigation efficiency, heat units on the crop and levels of stress index for the crops. For alfalfa, the tool shows when the field was last cut, yield per acre, when the next cut will be needed and where that hay will be delivered. The color code shows how many days until the field needs to be harvested. Wakimoto said the map base makes it easy for managers to know when to cut without having to read data on every field. The farm's full hay inventory is graded, managed and sold through the app.

By looking at the color-coded fields, managers can help schedule time off, or determine when everyone is needed in the fields. The app is based on data taken from six weather stations spread across the 15,000 acres the farm manages. The app also generates pesticide application forms to submit online to state regulators.

"My guys don't have to read anything," Wakimoto said. "They can just come over and look at it and know we need to be getting ready to cut."

The tribe also runs a 4,500-head cattle feedyard that generally is more stocked in winter months when the weather cools. The farm-management program also monitors stress indexes and customer details on all the cattle by pen in their feedlot. The app has a heat-stress model for cattle.

Wakimoto added that he was in Alaska for 10 days earlier this summer, but was able to keep tabs on everything going on at the farm with his iPad.

"It's simple to use, but you have to be diligent with your data," Wakimoto said. "We have tried to market it, but we haven't really tried that hard."

In Winslow, Ariz. -- about 250 miles east -- the farm corporation also operates "The Corner Feed & Tack" store, playing off the lyrics of the old Eagles tune. Wakimoto said the store has been a good diversification for the tribe. However, the spread of some chain stores, notably Tractor Supply, has put a dent in the tribe's retail business.

There is some opportunity to develop more farmland for the tribe, but Wakimoto noted that costs could hinder some of that opportunity. The tribe isn't going to spend thousands of dollars for new development without the cash flow from the crop.

"This farm ground has to pay for itself in terms of return on the crop," Wakimoto said. "The land can't be sold, so whatever you are doing in terms of development has to pay for itself."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN

(ES/AG/CZ)

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