As the severe drought continues in Central Oregon, local farmers met together Tuesday night at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds to find a solution to get irrigation water back to local farmlands.
The collaborative approach took center stage at the meeting hosted by the nonprofit Perfect Balance.
Attendees spoke about a solution to get water back to local farms.
“Common sense actually,” Perfect Balance Co-Founder Johanna Symons said. “I know it’s a delicate thing, but with common sense and with the right people in place to make decisions to keep the frog alive and to give farmers water, there needs to be a table of experts that have common sense and can take a collaborative, balanced approach at it.”
“We have to take action immediately because farmers can’t sustain themselves…bad year one year, okay two years, it’s tough,” cattle rancher and Arnold Irrigation Board member Rob Rastovich said.
“Three years, you can’t make it. It’s not economically viable.”
Perfect Balance was founded by a Madras couple with the tag line “Environmentally Friendly Agriculture”.
Their goal is to educate the community on how the food you eat makes it to your table and how to preserve water for ecosystems, endangered species, and farmland.
If you’d like to find out more or get involved, you can head to their website Perfectbalanceusa.org.
