Rain impacts on farming communities across the valley

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Many workplace grounds crossed the vale level are saturated, keeping immoderate farmworkers retired of astir fields for the past week.

However, accordant rainfall crossed the Valley level this past week has mostly been welcomed by section growers.

"We request that rainfall to assistance reconstruct the crushed water, enactment immoderate moisture backmost into the ungraded and get immoderate snowfall up into the mountains truthful we tin commencement storing up h2o for adjacent year," says John Chandler, who farms almonds, citrus, and vino grapes.

Chandler says almonds and grapes are already harvested truthful the rainfall has minimal impact.

But for citrus, it's a antithetic story.

"The citrus is inactive connected the histrion and immoderate of the aboriginal citrus is getting acceptable to harvest, truthful it whitethorn dilatory down the harvest for a small spot but different than that this isn't truly the worst clip to get rain, during this wintertime clip is erstwhile we similar to spot immoderate of this rainfall coming in," explains Chandler.

Some employees tin determination indoors to drawback up connected instrumentality attraction - but for farmworkers who prime fruit, bedewed upwind means staying retired of the fields-and retired of work.

"We can't person radical picking the effect itself due to the fact that of staining and prime issues and information issues for them," says Jose Rivas who is simply a tract typical for California Citrus Association.

He has worked successful agriculture for 20 years.

Although Rivas says the rainfall is ever welcomed, for those impacted employees, the timing couldn't beryllium worse.

"This week those mates 100 3 100 radical are not having a paycheck, and being truthful adjacent to the holidays everyone needs a paycheck close now," explains Rivas, "We volition beryllium picking Saturday and Sunday to marque up for what the buyers need."

Rivas says they volition get backmost into the fields arsenic soon arsenic it's harmless but they are astatine the mercy of the weather.