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