Arizona leads nation in female farmers

In Queen Creek, Arizona, you can find a 1.33-acre lot growing oranges, apples, figs, peaches, pears, grapes, sugarcane, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, eggplant, okra, corn, green beans – and also raising chickens for meat and eggs, sheep for meat and goats for milk. It is one of 7,835 farms in Arizona run by a woman. The…

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How farms cope with a closed border

With winter lettuce season starting in November, farms and the agriculture industry are rushing to find workers for harvest. A difficult task, made more difficult with the anti-immigration rhetoric coming from the current administration. For Arizona, the stakes are high, especially for the Yuma area, where roughly 90 percent of national lettuce and leafy greens…

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Arizona farmers markets face future uncertainty

The Bisbee Farmers Market is an eclectic mix of locals and visitors roaming through stands of fresh vegetables, meat, leather goods, painted gourds, and homemade pistachio brittle. A table at the edge of the market is brimming with baskets of green beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers and potatoes. Jack Lemons, co-owner of…

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Arizona farmers advocate benefits of buying local

Every time produce is scanned at the checkout line at the supermarket, a vote is cast. Whether you know it or not, that newly bought and mass-produced selection represents your vote for the big chain’s lower prices over local farmer’s quality assurance. This, according to Laurie Slater, employee at Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm, is one…

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Farmers Receive Loans for Lost Crops

The USDA will provide low-interest emergency loans to farmers, ranchers and residents affected by severe drought in Cochise County. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack designated Cochise and five other Arizona counties as primary natural disaster areas because of extreme drought. The designation brings with it financial help to farmers, ranchers and small businesses under…

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