Arizona governor candidate visits Yuma
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - With election season coming up, Arizona candidates are visiting cities across the state and we got the chance to speak with candidate Karrin Taylor Robson about her latest visit to Yuma County.
She is back in Yuma County to speak with local leaders about the issues affecting our region and she also said her main goal is to secure the border.
However, on this visit, she was here to speak to farmers about Yuma's multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry.
Taylor Robson said, “Of course agriculture being a pretty important industry in Yuma, not only for Arizona but it’s an important industry for our entire county. So again to come down to Yuma and talk to people that are involved in the agriculture industry is critically important for me to be able to lead.”
She spoke with farmers, ranchers and AG businesspeople to learn how to meet the needs of this industry.
The tier one water shortage on the Colorado river is one of the factors impacting agriculture in Arizona.
Taylor Robson said “Obviously water is a big issue. Arizona has been blessed with a legacy of stewardship of water for 100 years plus and i can walk through what has taken place over the past 100 years to help support our legacy industries, agriculture being the top of that list.”
Yuma county agriculture has a high-priority right to just under a million-acre feet of water from the river.
The agriculture industry in Yuma county represents an annual gross economic return of 3.2 billion dollars, which is more than one-third of Arizona's annual total of 9.2 billion dollars.
“Yuma has issues that are important to them. Priorities in rural Arizona are different than priorities in Maricopa County or Pima county, so it’s important for a governor of an entire state to understand those issues and understand the priorities of the people of Arizona,” explains Robson.
Robson is just one of many candidates running to become the state's next governor.
The Arizona primary election will take place on August 2nd.
