How we can all help keep the crops safe
Cool nights, warm days, the winter crops are practically jumping out of the ground. While our weather year has been non-normal, within 2 to 3 weeks someone will be starting to harvest something!
It is time to review the Good Behavior Rules during the winter vegetable season for both residents and visitors. The first item is that food safety is of critical importance, and as such, there are strict guidelines for you and me.
The first rule is to stay out of the farm fields! It doesn’t matter if the crop is unusual, colorful, amazing or any other adjective, do not enter a field. Growers in Yuma County believe that the health and safety of the crops our consumers eat is their primary concern.
Farmers and their workers follow strict procedures for health and hygiene for everyone who enters a field. Equipment is sanitized before and after working in a field. Every humane method known at this time is used to keep animals, birds, rodents and other potential carriers of contaminants out of fields.
Water is monitored on a regular basis, monthly, weekly or daily dependent on the stage of plant growth and the type of irrigation being used. Regardless if a field is partially harvested or fully harvested, it is not an invitation to pick the “leftovers.” Vegetable crops like most others do not all ripen at the same time, requiring multiple trips through the fields.
Hairnets, gloves, booties, aprons and sanitized tool are all required by harvesters. No jewelry, hair pins or other small items are allowed in the field. Hand washing is required several times a day. Assessments of crops and field conditions are made on a regular basis by the food safety specialists.
It is when being out and about enjoying our beautiful valleys and weather that the rule about farm equipment comes into play. Most farm fields are on unpaved roads. Dirt is a contaminant of produce crops. To reduce dust moving into adjacent fields, Yuma farmers use water trucks for watering the dirt roads multiple times a day. This means the roads are muddy, slippery and become rutted and rough with the traffic of tractors, trucks, worker buses, irrigation equipment and harvest aids.
If you must view field activities, stay on the paved roads. The dance created with forklifts, trucks, harvest aids and workers requires all participants to keep their minds on their jobs, not to look for spectators and vehicles being “looky-loos.” It is for your safety as well as that of the workers that only folks who are supposed to be around the fields are there.
Gleaning is not permitted. With the dedication of the growers to track every input prior to crop harvest, anyone trespassing in the fields provides nightmares to farm managers.
Everyone can help protect our farm fields and water supplies by not littering and not throwing anything into the canal systems. If you walk animals or ride them near fields, clean up after them, or do exercise and pleasure riding elsewhere.
How many times have you stepped in a deposit left by someone’s animal and tracked it into your yard or home. With all the tires, feet and equipment going into the fields, can you imagine the amount of feces left by careless humans and their critters that can be moved into the growing area?
We can all do our part to assure the health and safety of the industry that provides 50 percent of the jobs in Yuma County.
Oh, and remember when sharing the road with any type of equipment, it is probably moving slower than you assume it is, so drive defensively and slow down.
Bobbi Stevenson-McDermott is a retired soil and water conservationist. She can be reached at rjsm09@msn. com.