Months of work lost as San Juan River floods devastate Shiprock farms
Navajo Times | Sharon Chischilly
Shiprock farmer Joe Ben Jr. stands in his cornfield Oct. 31 in Shiprock, where prolonged rain and flooding along the San Juan River destroyed much of his harvest.
SHIPROCK
Joe Ben Jr. had spent two days feeding his harvest to the fire.
He waited for the wind to turn the right way before lighting the barrel incinerator behind his home and tossing in corn spoiled by weeks of rain and the San Juan River flood that followed. The pile once stretched through his yard. What remained was streaked black and pink with mold.
“This is months of hard work, and then three months of growing,” Ben said Saturday, Oct. 31, holding up two ears.
One was dusted orange-pink, the other furred dark gray.
“You can see the spoilage? You can see it starts in the cob. So you cannot dry it out, and it starts growing from inside out,” he said.
To read the full article, please see the Nov. 12, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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