Coachella Valley Agriculture

Jose Luis Aguiar, Farm Advisor, UCCE Riverside County

November 4, 2015

Riverside County 2014 TOTAL VALUATION: F.O.B.

1. CITRUS $170,891,000 2. TREE & VINE $223,593,000 3. VEGETABLES* $337,404,000 4. FIELD AND SEED $156,575,000 5. NURSERY $172,910,000 6. APICULTURE $ 4,819,000 7. AQUACULTURE $ 5,078,000 8. LIVESTOCK/POULTRY $290,746,000 TOTAL VALUATION: $1,362,016,000

*ALL VEGETABLES

2014 Agricultural Districts Valuations in Riverside County

• Riverside/Corona $ 96,205,000 • San Jacinto/Temecula Valley

$175,767,000 • Coachella Valley $625,62,000 • Palo Verde Valley $171,013,000

Total: $1,058,435,000

Grapefruit, Lemons, Oranges-Valencia, Royal Mandarins,Tangelos, Tangerines, Kumquats, Limes, Oranges-Blood

2014 Coachella Valley Acreage and Agricultural Crop Report

Citrus: 8,321 Acres Gross Value $117,644,000

Grapefruit Harvest: December to June

Grapes: 8,586 acres Gross Value: $164,032,000

Beauty-Seedless, Exotic, Flame Seedless, Perlette, Thompson Seedless Grape Harvest: May to June

Dates: 8,465 Acres Gross Value: $36,031,000

Medjool, Deglect Nor, Includes by-products Date Harvest: August to November

All Vegetables: 27,918 Acres Gross Value: $282,139,000

2014 Coachella Valley Acreage and Agricultural Crop Report

2014 Coachella Valley Vegetables Gross valuation

• Bell Peppers $75,497,000 • Lettuce-Romaine $15,120,000 • Oriental Vegetables $ 19,386,000 • Strawberry $26,258,000 • Carrots $23,170,000 • Sweet Corn $ 8,850,000 • Lettuce loose leaf $10,382,000 • Cauliflower $ 8,100,000

Agricultural areas are becoming urbanized, productive soils are growing houses. Agriculture should be seen as a strategic asset of the nation.

Deposits of sand, loams and clays are found throughout the valley

Increasing the agricultural acreage will require soil reclamation. Soil profiles are extremely stratified with layers from less than inch to a foot or more thick, in the lower areas of the valley the soils can be high in soluble salts

Climate • Long, extremely hot summers, mild

winters, and relatively low humidity • Annual recorded rainfall of 3.16 inches • Temperatures of more than 125F (52C)

and lows of 16F (-9C) • Seasonal strong winds during April, May

and October with gusting blowing sand

Climate limits what and when we can grow crops

Two Main Vegetable Farming Periods

• Spring Season • Fall Season And the seasons overlap

Cooperative Extension • The bridge between local

citizens and UC research • ~130 campus-based

specialists

• ~200 CE advisors • Statewide network of local

offices

Information on UCCE Riverside Programs

http://ceriverside.ucanr.edu • http://ucanr.edu/sites/Farm_Management/ • http://ceriverside.ucanr.edu/Vegetable_Crop

s/ • http://ceriverside.ucanr.edu/Custom_Progra

m/Topics_in_Subtropics/

Information on Agricultural Exports UC AGRICULTURAL ISSUES CENTER Information on California’s Agricultural Exports http://aic.ucdavis.edu/pub/exports.html

Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis Current Cost Studies http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu/en/current/ and http://ceriverside.ucanr.edu

Information on Cost Studies