Last week, a group of OGC staff and fellow retailers visited the desert region up, down and around the Salton Sea in California to learn how organic growers produce food in the desert climate. We certainly didn't experience the blistering heat in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that we were expecting; while we were there, we had a truly unique weather event for this time of year--serious rain in the desert! This region typically gets less than 3 inches of rain for the entire year, but Mother Nature once again proves who's boss. Of course, rain won't stop a group of Washingtonians and Oregonians, and this OGC trip was still as fun as it was informative!   

Stops included Anthony Vineyards, as well as their date farm;  Richard Bagdasarian, Inc. (Mr. Grape and Pasha Marketing, LLC) headquarters and some of their grape and pepper fields; Sutton Morgan's farm (Oasis Organics grower) at Elmore Desert Ranch and Desert Express packing shed; Peri & Sons onion shed,  Central Coast Cooling; Goldie Organic melon fields, and Gless Ranch fig farm and packing shed.

The biggest question on everyone's mind was where these farms get their water and how impacted are they by the drought and the new water restrictions. Farms in this area source their water from the Colorado River. The other large producing area in the Central Valley of California relies on snow pack from the Sierras for their main water supply. Because the Rockies have not had such drastic reductions in snow pack, the Imperial Valley hasn't had to rely so much on water reserves. However, they all recognize the constant need to preserve, protect and conserve this precious resource.

Anthony Bianco & Rob Spinelli	Anthony Vineyard's Red Flame grapes	Anthony's grape packing

Our first stop was Anthony Vineyards. We met with Rob Spinelli and Anthony Bianco. Rob works in sales and has been with Anthony Vineyards for 14 seasons. Anthony is descendent of the family owners and has grown up working in the business most of his life. They have fields in Coachella and Thermal, but have a larger growing operation in Bakersfield, California. In total they have about 2,000 organic acres that they plan to increase, packing about 1.5-2 million boxes each year. We visited their Red Flame vineyards where we gorged ourselves on samples right off the vine.  

New line of Medjool dates - Sun Date label	Anthony's Date Grove	Anthony demonstrates date pollination method

We sampled their delicious new line of organic Medjool dates, which come in 12oz containers under the Sun Date label. Then we toured the date farm and learned how dates are harvested and pollinated-both of which are by hand! Those brown paper bags around date bunches contain the pollen.

The Salton Sea	Fishbone Beach on the Salton Sea	Shoreline shrinking exposed beach of bones

From there we headed to Fishbone Beach, on the northern edge of the Salton Sea near their date orchard. This giant man-made sea with no source of new water coming in poses a real conundrum as it continues to shrink and become increasingly salinated. Click here for an interesting article on the Salton Sea. As it shrinks, trillions of fish bones and barnacles cover the ground near the shoreline. It was quite a strange experience to hear the crunch of dead sea life remains beneath your feet.  

Pasha pepper boxes	Mr. Grape cooler wraps	Weighing station

Next we visited Richard Bagdasarian, Inc, or rather the Mr. Grape and Pasha packing shed and surrounding lands. Franz De Klotz, VP of Pasha Marketing and Sales Representative, and Carrie Briones gave us a tour of their packing and storage facility. 30% of the power used at the facility is generated with Photovoltaic Solar Array panels that rotate and follow the sun's position in the sky. In addition to growing grapes and peppers, they grow citrus. While we got a few samples of last year's leftover lemons, the real showstoppers were the grapes.  

Nick Bozick & Franz De Klotz	Metal vine trellises force vines up & grapes hang	Girdling of grape vines for better grapes

Nick Bozick, a third generation Sunkist grower and President of Richard Bagdasarian, and Franz brought us to the vineyards to show us Red Flames and to sample green Sugarones that were nearly ready for picking. Their vine trellises force the vines to grow upward and out, leaving the grapes hanging below to provide for sun protection and much easier picking. Franz talked with us about girdling grape vines. Basically they make small cut on the vine's trunk. This improves berry size, increases sugar content and produces stronger fruit, especially in older vineyards.  

Pepper fields with a view	Peppers packed under Pasha label	Irrigation canal -water out of Colorado River

The Bagdasarian land also produces bell peppers under the Pasha label. Currently, they have about 160 bell pepper acres. Just beyond one plot of peppers was their portion of the water canal, which is roughly 120 miles long! There was a beautiful view of the landscape, and in the distance we heard the sound of canons firing to scare the birds away from the fruit.  

The next day we drove further down the Salton Sea to meet Sutton Morgan, Oasis Organic grower, at Elmore Desert Ranch. He has about 1,200 organic acres and is eager to expand. Right now he's working on his melon, onion and potato crops, but he also grows broccoli, celery, cauliflower and carrots, as well as other wet vegetables.  

Sutton Morgan - Oasis Organic grower	Cantaloupe field prepped for picking	Cantaloupes being packed in the field

While we were there, workers were picking melons, sorting and packing them, and building pallets to be shipped to the coolers right there in the field. A slow moving tractor pulls an intricate system through the fields while many workers quickly pick melons, check for quality, build boxes and then pack them with the fruit. The drip tape he uses is eventually recycled and turned into plastic pellets, eliminating a lot of plastic waste going to landfills.  

Onion cleaning machine	Desert Gem onion sorting	Desert Gem onion packing

From there we drove to El Centro to visit Sutton's packing and storage shed. There we saw onions getting cleaned, sorted and packed, in addition to storage potatoes. His own private onion and potato label is called Desert Gems.  

Peri & Sons truck loading	Onion sorter	Peri & Sons onions in storage

After lunch we headed to another storage and packing shed where enormous stores of onions were in the curing process for Peri & Sons. We met with Bonnie Poux from Access Organics, Inc, George and Jim Manis, who are growers, packers and shippers, and Steve Hearst, a long-time grower who actually helped start Covilli Brand Organics. Their onion packing machine runs organic onions in the morning. After the non-organic onions go through the machine, it is cleaned to avoid contaminating the next run of organic onions.

Goldie Organic cantaloupes	Sweet corn being given a cool down bath	Sweet corn boxes being packed with ice

They took us on a tour of Central Coast Cooling where we saw Goldie Organic and Desert Gem cantaloupes and some sweet corn being stored before distribution in perfect, 34 degree temperature. When melons are brought into the cooler, they force intense cold air into the pallets to drive the "heat" out of the melons. Everyone was captivated by the ice packing machine outside. First, the waxed corn boxes were given a serious bath. Then they are loaded into what looks like a time machine, but really ice gets jam packed into the small holes of the boxes and on top.  

Mini watermelon field with irrigation ditch	Honeydew field with packing rig	Mini watermelon (right) with pollinator (left)

After, we headed to see more melons ripening and being picked in the fields. This time we saw honeydew and mini watermelon. We were fortunate enough to see the final stage of bee pollination. And of course we asked for a sample!  

Group netted up for packing shed tour	Packing Brown Turkey breva figs	Meticulous inspection of each fig prior to packing

Friday morning we visited Gless Ranch to see their fig operation. This little farm picks and packs on average about 10,000 pounds a day, roughly 70,000 pounds a week during their peak season. However, figs are incredibly delicate, and they can overripen so quickly on the trees that about 6,000 pounds of figs are discarded each day because they are unsalable and will be destroyed during shipment.  

Currently, only the Brown Turkey variety was producing the larger, breva fruit (12, 18 and 24 count). Fig trees typically produce two crops each year. The first crop, which grows from the previous year's shoot growth is called the "breva" crop. These figs are often larger with different color and have a less sweet profile.  

Gless Ranch fig trees	Brown Turkey figs	Tiger (Candy) Stripe figs

In the field behind the shed, we examined the fruit growing on the trees and even found a few ripe ones to pick and try. We learned that when harvesting, workers pick from the ground up and inside to outside (as well as have skin fully protected) to avoid any of the sap getting on the skin as it can be quite an irritant. Gless Ranch primarily grows Brown Turkey and Black Mission figs; they are planting more Tiger (Candy) Stripe figs. This young orchard isn't a great producer yet, but demand is high and they are testing the health of the trees with plans to expand production in the next few years.  

OGC's mission is to promote health through organic agriculture as a leading sustainable organization. These farm tours are unique but align with our values to promote organic agriculture and bring the supply chain closer together though educational opportunities for our staff, our partners and the growers themselves. It takes a lot of resources, time and energy to organize such an event, but the knowledge we can bring back home is priceless. 

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