On New Year’s Eve in 2020, many Americans – including farmers in the West – celebrated with gusto as one of the most trying years in history came to an end.

Then 2021 came along and said, “Hold my beer.”

Along with a halting emergence from a pandemic that claimed more lives in 2021 than in 2020, the past year one-upped its predecessor by serving up a new and improved version of the 1970s – severe drought that depleted reservoirs to frighteningly low levels, vivid images of the end of a long war, and inflation brought on by persistent supply-chain problems.

From fires to public policy flaps, 2021 was a year of crises – and farmers had a front-row seat. But not all the news was negative for growers, as the year saw the passage of a landmark infrastructure bill and a funding boost for state Extension programs.

Related: Ag policy highs and lows in 2021

Here are the year’s top 10 ongoing news stories affecting agriculture in the West, as chosen by Farm Press editors.

1. Drought, heat and fire

After a dearth of spring rainfall and warm temperatures caused runoff in some areas to virtually disappear, about 90% of the West has begun its third year of drought, with almost half the region in the two most severe categories of drought.

Related: Will California sink the West over water?

The dry conditions have depleted the Colorado River’s two main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, and led to drastic water cutbacks in California.

The drought was accompanied by a heat wave that pushed temperatures in the Pacific Northwest into the 110s in late June and early July, which affected production of myriad crops.

But the biggest impact came from wildfires that burned nearly 7 million acres and sent plumes of smoke as far away as New York City. The Bootleg Fire in central Oregon grew to the size of Los Angeles, and Northern California’s 963,309-acre Dixie Fire cut through several Gold Rush-era towns, including most of Greenville.

Related: Extreme conditions challenge Northwest producers

This year’s fires caused an estimated $70 billion to $90 billion in damage nationwide, including $45 billion to $55 billion in California alone, AccuWeather CEO Joel N. Myers predicted in a report.

2. Tech revolution

Spurred by labor shortages and demands for greater sustainability, Western agriculture took great strides toward automating specialty-crop operations in the last year.

Leading the way were land-grant universities and Western Growers, which launched parallel efforts in February to automate specialty-crop harvests. The Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers established a cohort of startups and established businesses that will receive technical aid and mentorship from a team of experts.

Related: 13 innovators picked to lead harvest automation initiative

Meanwhile, dozens of startups including Livermore, Calif.-based Monarch Tractor are putting new machines to work in fields. Monarch has scored nearly $60 million in investments as it fills hundreds of orders for its electric, automated tractors.

3. COVID-19 fallout

While COVID-19 was estimated to reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by as much as $2.5 trillion through much of 2021, the pandemic has also created opportunities for segments of agriculture, including direct farm-to-consumer sales, which have skyrocketed.

Related: Western states challenge vaccine mandates

West Coast timber operators said last summer they were trying to catch up with demand for lumber products, which rose sharply as people spent more time at home.

As much of the economy reopened in 2021, the focus shifted to vaccines. Farmworkers were among those with an early priority for the shots, and farm groups and university Extension sponsored programs to get the workers vaccinated.

Related: Extension initiative addresses vax hesitancy

But mistrust of the jabs has lingered in the farmworker community, and courts have so far stalled President Joe Biden’s mandate that companies with 100 or more employees mandate the jabs for their workers.

4. Shipping crisis

In the first seven months of 2021, shipping supply chain issues cost the U.S. dairy industry nearly $1 billion in additional expenses, lost sales and eroded value, California dairy farmer Simon Vander Woude said during a recent congressional hearing.

The dairy industry is not alone in facing challenging supply chain constraints, including some estimates noting as much as 22% in lost agricultural sales due to the supply chain limitations. Over 70% of containers are leaving West Coast ports empty, an all-time record as boats rush back to China and filled with their own products to meet U.S. consumer demand.

Related: 'Containergeddon' cost Calif. growers $2.1b in exports

Recent research by agricultural economists suggests that economic losses to California agriculture from supply chain disruptions amounted to around $2.1 billion, which exceeds losses from the 2018 U.S.-China trade war.

Supply-chain issues have been largely blamed for worsening inflation, and the House Agriculture Committee’s Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said both short-term and long-term solutions are needed.

5. Border crisis

As Haitian refugees and other undocumented immigrants flooded across the border in 2021, farmers and ranchers along the border said the situation worsened by the day. The American Farm Bureau Federation says local and state border security resources have been exhausted, leaving little help for farmers and ranchers experiencing theft and property damage.

Related: Border situation threatens farmers' livelihood

To ease the situation, two Texas congressmen have proposed a bill to reimburse farmers using unspent COVID-19 relief funding, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the President Donald Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy for refugees.

6. Afghanistan pullout

The hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation sent a coalition of land-grant universities – including two on the West Coast – scrambling to save Afghans who took part in their farmer outreach programs.

Related: Extension programs scramble to save Afghan partners

Officials from the University of California, Davis and Washington State University were among those across the U.S. who submitted some 10,000 names to the federal government as potential refugees.

The rapid re-emergence of the Taliban sent many of these workers into hiding. Refugees from the war-torn nation are still being vetted and welcomed into U.S. cities.

7. Infrastructure bill

The $1.2 trillion “compromise” infrastructure bill signed by Biden in November included $17 billion for ports and waterways, $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail and $65 billion for broadband infrastructure.

Related: Ag celebrates bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by Biden

It also provides provisions to boost ag supply chain resiliency and exempts livestock haulers who stay within a 150-mile radius from hours-of-service regulations.

Farm groups hailed the bill’s passage, arguing it marks a turning point for U.S. agriculture’s competitiveness.

8. Boost for Extension

Federal COVID-19 relief funding for states enabled university Extension programs to bolster their ranks in 2021.

Related: Extension programs get financial boost

The University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources saw more than a $32 million increase in the state’s 2021-22 budget, bringing its total to nearly $108 million from the state general fund.

The additional funding will help rebuild depleted farm advisor ranks and address deferred maintenance costs.

9. Animal ag targeted

Livestock groups girded for a fight as activists in Oregon and Colorado began gathering signatures for 2022 ballot measures that would essentially ban animal agriculture by criminalizing artificial insemination and other commonly accepted veterinary and animal care practices.

Related: Oregon initiative would ban animal slaughter, breeding

The Colorado Supreme Court derailed Initiative 16 on the grounds that it violated a state statute that initiatives only address a single subject, but the drive for Oregon’s Initiative Petition 13 is still underway.

10. Prop. 12 upheld

Hog producers across the country are looking for ways to adapt after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this summer rejected their challenge to Proposition 12, a ballot initiative approved in 2018 by California voters mandating space requirements for egg layers, veal and swine gestation crates.

Related: Prop 12 will create havoc on hog production

Taking effect Jan. 1, the law requires farms to add space for certain farm animals, including breeding pigs, or mother sows  A study by Barry Goodwin, a North Carolina State University agricultural economist, asserted that retrofitting an existing barn would cost an average of $10 per pig, or $770 million for the 77 million sows on U.S. pig farms.

[Farm Progress’ Policy Analyst Jacqui Fatka contributed to this story.]