Agriculture flourishes in desertAgriculture flourishes in desert

Even as summer temperatures exceed 110 degrees and the U.S. produce industry has returned its produce production to the Salinas Valley, farming still goes on in the desert Southwest where the Colorado River serves as a border to states and nations.

Hay and cotton are more common than leafy greens and cole crops this time of year in the river valley where Arizona towns like Yuma, Somerton and San Luis exist. The Gila River joins its much larger cousin, the Colorado River, at Yuma where not far from there, the Colorado ends its journey at the Gulf of California.

Planted in about February as a rotational crop in the Yuma area, cotton does a good job of utilizing remaining fertilizer applied to winter vegetable crops.

Agriculture flourishes along the two rivers. What isn't irrigated from aquifers recharged by the two systems is aided by man-made canal systems that nourish crops in two states.