It is summer in Colorado and that means it’s time to enjoy corn on the cob, sweet peaches and other Colorado-grown treats.

The state’s big four, Olathe sweet corn, Palisade peaches, Rocky Ford melons and Pueblo chiles, are coming or have already arrived on store shelves.

It has not been an easy harvest for Colorado farmers. Some worry this may be a make-or-break season as they contend with drought triggering an early water cutoff.

More than 97% of the state is experiencing some degree of drought, with about 12.2% of it classified as “exceptional drought,” according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

But farmers “tend toward optimism,” said Amanda Laban, the markets division director at the state agriculture department.

“Just because we have a current difficult drought year doesn’t mean that everyone’s throwing in the towel,” Laban said.

Some prices for the produce have held steady, while there has been a slight fluctuation for others.

Palisade peaches survive April freeze, bloom early

Palisade peaches are a Colorado staple. Some farmers of the sweet fruit were hit by a cold snap in April, though others made it through with crops intact or minimally impacted.

“We were literally within probably one to two degrees before losing it all,” said Zachary Quintana of C and R Farms and the Urban Orchard. “For how bad it was, we got really lucky.”

The mild winter also means peaches are blooming about three to four weeks earlier than normal, Quintana said. While the peaches may be smaller than usual because of the earlier harvest, they’ll still taste the same.

In fact, Quintana said the flavor has been “off the charts” this year.

The season will be somewhat truncated, meaning consumers need to get their peaches now, he said.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to sell,” he said. “They need to be going now, not in middle to end August, September. We don’t want them to be disappointed.”

This year peaches from C and R are selling for between $3.50 and $4.00 per pound, Quintana said. That is in line with last year’s sale price.

Melons today, chiles tomorrow

In Pueblo, Rocky Musso of Musso Farms in Pueblo, said they scaled back their chile planting this year.

Like the peaches from Palisade, the chiles he’s seeing look and taste good. It is a little early for the chile harvest, however. That usually happens later in the summer, Musso said.

“This season, our water crunch was the most challenging,” he said. “We’re working through it. … At the beginning, chiles are water intensive and we need three irrigations to get them up out of the ground.”

Musso said it’s too early to price out chiles, however. He said they’ll know more in about a month, after he assesses the crop’s yield.

After that though, they’re a little bit more lax in terms of water use, he said. But the family and farm is managing, and he said they’ll have enough chiles to keep Coloradans happy.

For now though, they’ve got other items on offer as well.

“We’ve got a variety of things, from A to Z,” Musso said. As of July 7, the farm has been getting Rocky Ford melons in as well, according to a Facebook post. Rocky Ford melons are $5 each, a hair higher than last year, mainly due to higher fuel costs.

Wildfire smoke delays Olathe corn crop

In Olathe, on Colorado’s western slope, smoke from wildfires caused a slight delay in the harvest.

“We’re about five days behind schedule this year due to the fires,” said Reid Fishering of Mountain Quality Farms. Smoke from fires in Colorado blocked out enough sunlight to delay their harvest, he explained.

He hopes to start harvesting on Monday. That means consumers can expect to find his corn on store shelves by next Wednesday, he said. Though he tries, as many farmers do, to keep prices as low as possible, Fishering said prices are up about 2% this year.

Olathe corn farmers have not had an easy run the past few years, said Laban with the state’s agriculture department. For several years, they’ve been trying to deal with a pesticide-resistant moth that lays eggs inside of the corn.

This year, there’s another issue.

“We don’t have enough water,” Fishering said. “Our water is being shut off Sept. 1 this year, so we’re barely going to make it to Labor Day.”

In a good year, farmers are told to cut back their water use after about two weeks. This year, Fishering said they’ve only received about half what’s normal.

“A farmer is the ultimate optimist, but there’s a lot going against us,” he said. “I hope the consumer on the eastern slope is there to support us.”