YAKIMA, WA - The fresh produce industry is well-versed in handling challenges. Be it weather, labor, sustainability—or, most often, a combination of the three—growers are continuously overcoming hurdles both big and small in their mission to feed the world.

Among these pressures is drought, which continues to impact growing regions from coast to coast. As King 5 News out of Seattle, Washington, reported at the beginning of October, the Washington Department of Ecology ordered a halt to surface water use in the Yakima Basin for the first time in state history, noting critically low reservoir storage and streamflows after three straight years of drought. Beginning on October 6 and lasting through the end of the month, more than 1,500 water rights holders have been barred from diverting water; October 1 marked the start of the 2026 water year.

“Curtailment orders were mailed by the Washington state Department of Ecology last week to all post-1855 water right holders to stop all Yakima River surface water diversions by October 6. This has never occurred before,” shared Scott Revell, District Manager for the Roza Irrigation District. “We went into the 2025 season way behind on water storage and then had a very dry year, and the snow we did get didn’t come off in the most optimal way. Roza’s water supply for most of the season was 40 percent of our full allotment due to a lack of rain and snow in the mountains.”

As Scott tells me, several measures were put in place by the Roza Irrigation District to ensure water supply through the remainder of the year, including:

• Shut the system down for 10 days in May to move water to later in the year
• Leased $3 million of senior water rights to supplement supply
• Imposed severe restrictions from June 1 on
• Ended the season on September 24, about four weeks early

The 2025 drought marks the sixth major drought to impact growing regions in the Roza district in the past three decades. The Roza Irrigation District covers 72,000 irrigated acres over 95 miles long with 450 miles of canals. About 80 percent of the district produces high-value perennial crops such as tree fruit, hops, and wine and juice grapes, with the other 20 percent producing dairy and row crops.

“Most Roza farms have built some mix of drought resiliency measures into their operations to better make it through the drought years,” Scott explained. This includes:

• Expanded irrigation efficiency, such as more drip emitters, under-tree micro-spray, and lower flow nozzles on pivot and fixed sprinklers (7,000 acres were converted to drip between the 2015 drought and the 2024 drought, with thousands more in 2025)
• On-farm storage ponds to get through a shutdown and to continually receive some water on a 24-hour basis
• Emergency drought wells to supplement when Roza supply is reduced
• Planting annual crops like corn a week or two earlier in combination with a quicker maturing variety to better take advantage of the limited water supply
• Use of the water allotment pooling system that allows Roza farmers to share water (e.g. combine and alternate days)
• Leasing water from other Roza growers in order to move water from one Roza farm to another

To further support these drought resilience efforts, Roza spends roughly $240,000 per day leasing water to extend the season during severe drought years.

“These multi-year droughts always end at some point,” Scott concludes. “We do not need to see full reservoir recovery in one season to see a significant improvement in water supply in 2026. Snowpack is the leading indicator.”

Recent rain in the past couple of weeks and potential rain in the upcoming forecast have offered some much-needed relief to the area.

ANUK will continue to monitor weather impacts and other challenges impacting the ag sector, so keep reading for the latest updates.