Southern California’s Coachella Valley is known for many things. The valley is notable as the site of Palm Springs and other resort cities with first-rate golf courses that attract snowbirds seeking a winter getaway. Thousands of music lovers flock to the desert each year to enjoy a weekend of music, art and food at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, one of the largest and most popular music festivals in the world. Edged by mountains, outdoor recreational opportunities also abound, with Joshua Tree National Park just a short distance away. But despite the draw of these attractions, agriculture is the economic engine of the area. Although the region is characterized by its desert environment, since the early 1900s, irrigation in the Valley has enabled widespread agriculture by transforming a hot sandy desert into a fertile oasis with a nearly year-round growing season. An estimated $400 million to $600 million of agricultural products are produced there each year.
The Coachella Valley is one of the most productive growing regions in the country. Due to its climate, growers can produce the same premium crops during the winter months that other farmers produce in the spring and summer.
The Medjool date grows there in abundance. The Valley, with its ideal conditions of fertile, sandy soils, is the primary date-growing region in the United States, responsible for nearly 95 percent of the nation's date crop.
The Valley is also known for table grapes, citrus fruits, and a wide variety of vegetables. It’s aptly called the Winter Salad Bowl of the United States because the climate allows harvest of fresh salad greens, carrots, and bell peppers during the winter months.
The farming calendar in the Coachella Valley follows a seasonal pattern. Typically, red, green, and yellow bell peppers are harvested from April to June. Depending on the weather, the table grape harvest begins sometime between May and June. Date harvest typically occurs from late August through October. Rounding out the year are the citrus fruits, including lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, that are harvested from October to February.
These diverse, time-sensitive crops have one thing in common: the need to be moved from the field to processing or shipping facilities as quickly and efficiently as possible. That’s where Jesus Cervantes comes in.