This time last year, Reno Public Radio’s Michelle Bliss visited Rick Lattin in Fallon where they toured his farm and talked about Lattin’s growing concern for his crops, especially the alfalfa.
Now, with yet another harvest threatened by the ongoing drought, Michelle checked up on Lattin to find out how he and other farmers in that community are holding up.
Right now, Lattin says he's waiting to hear from his local water district on how much will be allocated to alfalfa farmers. The word right now is that allocations could be as low as 15 percent, which Lattin says would be crippling.
"Some of the farmers are going to have look at borrowing money to stay in business," Lattin explains, "and that's at the point where you look at it and say, 'Hmm...do I want to do that or do I want to find an exit strategy?'"
Despite the severity of this dry spell, Lattin says the farmers he knows have been saving water for years as the preparation for a drought in the desert never ceases.